Richer living
for single Christians:
A Singles Survival Guide, by Diane Kingston
Introduction
As single people we each
develop ways of making the most of our situations, and we can
benefit from sharing our strategies with others. This Survival
Guide is a compilation of ideas that I have collected from single
friends who, like me, have never married and we all agree that
they can certainly help you whether you are looking for a partner
feel or are called to be single. Although the ideas in this guide
have come from people who have never married, most of them can
still be useful to people who are newly single again.
I have not gone into any depth on the theology or the sociology
or any other "ology" as this has already been written
in books on singleness. This guide is a quick way of finding
different strategies for living a richer single Christian life.
If you want a more "meaty" read then I suggest that you
try one of the excellent books that are available. I have listed
a few with some other resources in this
guide.
I write from experience as, at the time of writing this, I am a
"contented but curious" single: I am 80% contented with
being single, but still curious as to whether God has a partner
for me. I was raised in an extended family that included lots of
maiden great-aunts & great-great aunts who provided positive
role models. I think that their example has helped me in my
singleness, and being single doesn't feel as odd to me as it
seems to be to some of my friends. Even so, I still find that
life as a Christian involuntary single can be a tough and
solitary one, and I often feel that I fail as a
"successful" single Christian. I still have
"down" times, but I’m sure that even non-single
people have these.
The strategies listed in this guide are quick, down to earth,
practical and achievable actions for you to take in order to
achieve a richer life where you are now. Don’t aim to try
all of the ideas; not all of the ideas will suit everyone. I
cannot claim to be successful with all of them myself. A lot of
the ideas will require courage, effort, risk taking, and thought.
All of these are good practice for when you are in a
relationship. You will find ideas that will work for you, so
concentrate on those and perhaps after you have seen them work
you could revisit and try another one. With some of the
strategies you help yourself by helping others. With practice you
should come to experience the pleasures of alone-ness in contrast
to the emptiness of loneliness that many of us sometimes feel.
While you read this guide you might find it useful to keep a note
of ideas that you would like to try out. Then you could add your
comments on how you might be able to achieve each idea.
>>>forward to the next section (God loves you where you are)
I'd love to hear from you - email me and let me know what you think
If you have enjoyed this guide
then please pass the web site address (URL) to everyone else who
you think will benefit from it.
This guide is free for your own personal use. Please ask for my
permission before reproducing any of it in any form or anywhere.
Copyright©Diane Kingston 2001
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