Hey, it's OK! - A Valentine's Day special edition.

A friend of mine used to subscribe to a magazine that had a column called "Hey, it's OK."  It was a pretty clever column that listed things that were supposed to help one live "100% guilt free".  Things like, "Hey, it's OK to shove stuff in your closet and consider your place clean."  Or, "Hey, it's OK, to smirk when you see the big tough guy at the gym trip."   Well, for my birthday one year, my friend made me a little book complete with pictures of us and a whole lot of "Hey, it's OK's".  Some were cut straight out of the magazines that she had saved, and some she made up based on our memories.  The book is awesome.  Probably one of the most meaningful gifts I've ever received, actually.  I re-read the book the other night and it made me miss my friend and all our ridiculous times together.  It also made me immediately start making up my own, Hey, it's OK's.  Why?  Cause I'm ridiculous like that.


With Valentine's Day fast approaching and all the hub-bub, mushy commercials and giant heart-holding overstuffed gorillas that are clogging the aisles of WalMart, it's easy for us girls to start thinking. And when thoughts begin and end from emotions, they aren't always the most accurate and healthiest of thoughts.  I was thinking about conversations I've had with the girls I mentor, and the lessons I have learned along the way and continue to learn yet today when I decided a Hey, it's OK- Valentine's Day special edition was in order.  So here you have it!

Hey, it's OK!
.....To be single on Valentine's Day.  No, really, it is.
.....To say yes to getting to know someone who doesn't exactly look like the guy in your dreams.
.....To say no to the really cute boy that makes your head spin when you know that he's just bad news bears.  He's not the only guy that will make your head spin.  Say no, and move on. 
.....To tell a guy you're not interested.  No guy wants you to go out with him only because you feel bad saying no. 
.....To laugh at yourself.  Come on ladies, we can be pretty ridiculous and it's OK to laugh about it.
.....To agree with a guy that just because the two of you are great people, doesn't mean that you're great together.
.....To dream about Tim Tebow calling to ask you out.  Oh, wait.  That's not OK.  Never mind.. :)
.....To revert back to a red faced giggly junior high girl when the guy you've had your sights on smiles and says hello as he walks by.
.....To feel butterflies when you get a glimpse at just how much God loves YOU.

.....To be thankful for the season of singleness and fully enjoy all the freedom it provides.
.....To long for the day a new season begins.
.....To at some point honestly wonder if every man left walking on this earth is either married, 20 years older or cougar-ishly younger than you, swinging for the other team, or just straight up weird. 
.....To know that your identity in Christ is secure and unchanging.  No matter how persuasive your hormones and emotions are to the contrary.
.....To let a guy pick you up, open your door, take your coat and buy you dinner.  There's a word for this ladies.  It's called being a gentleman.  And although chivalry has lost some momentum, it is not dead!   
.....To do the hard thing.  The thing that hurts more than you thought it would and requires more strength than you alone can muster. 
.....To wait.  To wonder.  To cry.  And then to trust.
.....To watch the occasional chick flick.
.....To turn off the chick flicks when you start actually believing that your Tom Hanks is going to meet you on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day.  They're movies ladies.  They're acting. 
.....To not look for, hope in, or expect that a guy can meet your every need.  That he can make all your troubles disappear, or that he will  "complete" you.  (Sorry Jerry Maguire).  Do not ask him to carry that burden.  Because he will not.  He cannot.   Asking him to do so will only make him feel inadequate.  He will resent you and you will be left feeling empty and frustrated.
.....To accept a compliment.  Repeat after me ladies...... "Thank. You." =)

Hey, it's OK,
.....To believe in a God who loves you with an everlasting love.  Who sees what you see and beyond.  Who is providentially leading and guiding you into His most perfect will.  And whose good plans for you are not thwarted or limited by time, resources or circumstances.  To believe, rejoice and rest in the fact that He is God and you are not.

Hey, it's OK.