Some thoughts from Elisabeth Elliot's book, Passion and Purity:
My father counseled his four sons never to say �I love you� to a woman until they were ready to follow immediately with �Will you marry me?� Nor should they think of saying �Will you marry me?� unless they had first said �I love you.� How much pain and confusion would be averted if men followed that rule. (93)
I have the feeling the world�s not going around very smoothly anymore. There�s been a breakdown somewhere when men sit around waiting for the phone to ring and women get angry if a man holds a door open for them. (107)
By the grace of God we have not been left to ourselves in the matter of who is to do the initiating. Adam needed a helper. God fashioned one to the specifications of his need and brought her to him. It was Adam�s job to husband her, that is, he was responsible-to care for, protect, provide for, and cherish her. Males, as the physical design alone would show, are made to be initiators. Females are made to be receptors, responders. It was not arbitrarily that God called Himself Israel�s Bridegroom and Israel His Bride, nor Christ the Head and the Church the Body and the Bride. He woos us, calls us, wins us, gives us His name, shares with us His destiny, takes responsibility for us, loves us with a love stronger than death. (109)
And On Friendship...
We picture lovers face to face, but friends side by side; their eyes look ahead. (C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves, 66)
The key to friendship is a common goal or object on which both companions focus. It can be an athletic pursuit, a hobby, faith, or music, but it�s something outside of them. As soon as the two people involved focus on the relationship, it has moved beyond friendship. (Joshua Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, 128)
A brief aside to women: If you're just friends with a man and he's trying to treat you like a lady, don't assume he has a romantic interest in you. One of the fastest ways to derail a man's attempts to practice servant leadership is to interpret his actions as romantic overtures. As my friend Jen put it, "Girls should assume that until a guy expresses interest, they're just friends." (Joshua Harris, Boy Meets Girl, 116)