Reader, I Married Him

On a sunny summer evening in June, I married my Andy.

(photo credits to Jill Belgarde Photography)

How have seven weeks gone by without a hint of this on my blog?

Life has been FULL ever since we started dating last spring. Somehow in the midst of our single-people schedules, we found lots of time to spend together, but it never seemed like enough.

Then we got engaged, and wedding planning took our lives by storm! In those three months, we learned a lot about the faithfulness of our God and the awesomeness of our family and friends. (We began to wish we'd been way more helpful to any engaged couples we ever knew once we experienced wedding planning ourselves.) (And I marveled at the outright silliness of the wedding industry. How easy it felt sometimes to get sucked in! But don't get sucked in!)

We had our wedding, and we loved it. We had a picnic with our out-of-town guests the next day, and we loved that too.

Then we stayed up all night doing laundry and driving to the airport for our honeymoon! Our week in Hawaii was filled with ocean, trees, cliffs, and winding roads. We loved it.

We returned to an apartment full of boxes and immediately got to work clearing the major box mountains out of our living room, because couches soon arrived! Once we had a table and seating in our apartment, it began to feel like home.

[This is where I would insert more photos, but apparently married people don't take them. Our life is a photo-less desert after Hawaii.]

Then we settled into summer. It's been filled with post-moving tasks, post-wedding tasks, catching up with people, learning new treasures from God's Word, and enjoying the gift of marriage.

We also still have jobs. Our honeymoon had led me to believe that getting married means you don't have to go to work and you sleep in all the time and your only responsibilities are putting on sunscreen and eating fish tacos. Apparently that's not true. So we are both back at work and figuring out how to manage employment plus marriage PLUS fish tacos.

For a woman who loves to write, it was strange for me not to write through some of the biggest transitions in my life. But even if I would have had the perfect words to publicly mark this season of abundantly good gifts, there has never seemed to be much time.

After all, those fish tacos won't eat themselves. Thanks for reading. :)

The Things I Carried: Leaving the Single Life

With all that I've written in the last few years about being single, it would be strange to slip out of singleness silently. So let me pause for a little while on this sunny Sunday afternoon and share with you my final thoughts on singleness as an unmarried woman. (On a side note, I probably won't write much about relationships or marriage. I don't want to be my usual slightly sarcastic self when writing about someone other than me.)

Lately I've been thinking about the things I've carried through my years of singleness.

I carried my name. I've been a Lentz for three decades. I have the Lentz sense of wit and the Lentz analytical mind and the Lentz receding hairline. These days when I sign my name, I remember that this is the last month I'll be scribbling out "Alison R. Lentz." It's probably for the best, given how the legibility of my signature has been on a steady decline since I first learned cursive in 1993.

I think it's fitting to set aside my name for a new one when I marry. I'll be gaining a new name (which I love) and a new set of family members (which I love). Changing my name is a perfect analogy for the new identity I am gaining as a wife and a member of a new family: a new identity where I gain so much, but lose some too. And even though I will no longer carry the name "Lentz," I assume I'll retain my Lentzy qualities.

I carried my preferences. My likes and dislikes, my opinions, and my convictions were the only ones I really had to consult when God's word didn't speak clearly on any particular decision. As my marriage approaches, Lord willing, I will set down some of my multitudinous strong opinions about the best way to live life as I partner up with someone who happens to have his own preferences, opinions, and convictions. I wonder if this process is easier for couples who marry in their early twenties, who haven't each had half a lifetime to get entrenched in their own ideas about everything.

I carried my friendships. Here's a secret: There are heroes among you. Are you part of a church? Chances are good that there are many single women in your church who would like to be married but are not, and who may never be because there are not enough Christian men to go around. Are you on the mission field? Then you probably know that 80-85% of single missionaries are female (from the article "Why are Women More Eager Missionaries?").

Single women in the church who want to get married have a few options:

1. Continue to hope in the Lord and pray for marriage. Eventually get married.
2. Continue to hope in the Lord and pray for marriage. Stay single. It is not true that every single person who desires marriage gets it.
3. Marry a non-Christian. Note: The Bible forbids this, and it makes sense. Why partner with someone whose life purposes are at odds with yours?

For those living in reality #2, there are choices again:

1. Stay single. Get bitter.
2. Stay single. Stay selfish.
3. Stay single. Refresh others. Serve enthusiastically. 

I'm happy to have spent the last ten years surrounded by single women who are choosing option #3.

• They are planning other people's bridal and baby showers, setting up their friends' weddings, and babysitting other women's kids.
• They can be found at the registration tables of college retreats, fatherhood seminars, and marriage conferences. They fill the ranks of volunteers that keep most of the ministries at my church running.
• They knowingly sabotage their chances of meeting a husband by moving to China, Laos, or the Middle East for as long as the Lord calls them there. 
• They raise support, buy houses, and fix appliances alone. They figure out how to assemble lawnmowers and set up IRAs.
• They are advancing in their professions and reaching out to their co-workers long after they might have thought they would be cutting their work hours to raise their families. 
• They respond graciously when their singleness is misunderstood or their sadness is dismissed by well-meaning friends and family.

My single friends are funny, faithful, encouraging, and strong. I loved writing about singleness partly because of the camaraderie of this particular group of unsung heroes. I'll miss being in the trenches with them, and I find it bittersweet to be setting down my identity as a single Christian woman.

There are other things I carried as a single woman that I'm happy to release. I carried a lot more Kleenexes before I met Andy, because I needed them a lot more often. Ha. I carried sadness, uncertainty, and the pain of watching my friendships change and weaken as friends got married and began having children.

I also learned to carry my expectations more loosely. I learned to carry greater hope in God Himself and not what he might do for me.

On the brink of my marriage, I'd love to hear from you: What did you carry as a single person? If you got married, what did you set down? What are you carrying now, in your current stage of life?

Jokes for Finding Love this Valentine's Day

This year on the blog, my mostly joking commentary on topics like creating the perfect holiday letter has been replaced by posts about the danger of Donald Trump, the role of American Christians, and the heartbreak of ignoring refugees. 

If you've stuck with me through this somewhat abrupt change in tone, thank you! I believe that I have only one voice, and if ever there was a year to use it, it's been this one. I especially appreciate readers who disagree with me who have continued to read and respond.

But today, Imma throw back to my blogging days of yore and talk to you about both JOKES and REAL LIFE in the SAME POST.

At the beginning of 2016, I published an article called Tips for Finding Love in the New Year. Here's an excerpt:

3) How to Handle the First Date

Using the above strategies, you’ll soon have plenty of dates on your calendar. How can you “wow” your date? I’m glad you asked.

The most important quality you can bring to a date is a sense of humor. Humor is even more attractive than actual attractiveness, which is why you frequently see top comedians paired up with supermodels, while your professional athletes and Hollywood stars — lacking that all-important sense of humor — are constantly having to take their moms to their various award shows because they can’t find anyone else to go with them.

To help you out, I’m going to share some jokes I have used on actual dates:

“What did the zero say to the eight?” “Nice belt.”

“What do you call a fish with no eyes?” “Fshhh.”

“What was the last thing that went through the bug’s head when it hit the windshield?” “Its butt.”

Now, you probably thought that advice was in jest. Heck, I thought that advice was in jest. But it turns out that my tips for finding love in the new year ACTUALLY WORK.

Not long after publishing that article, I got asked out to coffee by a man at my church. He'd been thinking about calling me for a while, but what helped tip him over the edge was reading my article and finding, yes, his favorite joke.

"What do you call a fish with no eyes?"
"Fshhh."

And we've been together ever since.

 + 

=

I still find it ironic that an article laughing about how NOT to impress someone helped bring me into a relationship with the one I love. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

So, apparently jokes are more powerful than I realized, and jokes about jokes are a foolproof path to true love. Single friends, I'm here for you. If dumb jokes work, I'm about to arm you with some jokes even dumber than the ones I shared last year. Here we go:

What do you call a cow with only two legs?
Lean beef.

What do you call a cow with no legs?
Ground beef.

What do you call a cow with an explosive device inside of it?
Abominable.

What do you call the cow after the device has exploded.
Noble.

Learn these jokes, single friends! Tell 'em at work, tell 'em at church, tattoo them on your arms, or include them in a satirical blog post about your dating ineptitude. Do what you need to do.

Have a great Valentine's Day, and I look forward to your weddings.

A Call to Rescue those Being Led Away to Death

Hey America. This week Trump decided to temporarily halt travel from seven Muslim nations, pause our refugee resettlement program, and indefinitely suspend the admittance of Syrian refugees.

I think we ought not be silent on this issue.

First, refugees. Refugees come to seek asylum from terrible things: war, rape, torture, genocide, and atrocities of all sorts. America is a safe place for children, women, and men running away from these terrible things. We should welcome them to live here and help them when they do.

"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter." (Proverbs 24:11)

 

Second, Muslims. Muslim countries are in chaos in many parts of the world. I believe this is the natural result of adhering to any ideology that does not place Christ as Lord and King. They do not know the Prince of Peace. America is a place with many Christians that can share the truth of the Gospel with immigrants who would have little chance of hearing this life-giving message of peace if they stayed in their home countries. Without the gospel, they perish.

 

"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter." (Proverbs 24:11)

If our obligation as Americans and Christians is primarily to protect our own safety, we should evaluate whether Trump's measures in any degree make us safer. I don't think they are likely to make us safer, but even if they did, there's a more important consideration.

 

If our obligation as Americans and Christians is to do what good we can in this world, we should evaluate whether Trump's measures in any degree help us save lives and save souls. How could anyone argue that Trump's measures increase our ability as Americans or Christians to show love and mercy to those who need it most?

Finally, whatever your thoughts are on immigration, please at least let's do our best to love those who are already here.

 

Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31). 

 

When asked who counts as a neighbor, Jesus told the story of a Jewish traveler who was attacked on the road, and saved not by the religious Jews walking by, but by a good Samaritan man who would have had every reason to walk on by. Jesus asked,

 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Mark 12:36-37)

Our neighbors. (source)

A Word about Defending Others

A word about defending others: This week Meryl Streep condemned Trump's mockery of a disabled reporter. She described being dismayed at "that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter." She noted:

This instinct to humiliate when it's modeled by someone in the public platform by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing.

These are not inflammatory statements. Most of us would agree that it's wrong to mock others. Most of us would agree that people in power should use their platform for good. Most of us want our leaders to lead by example.

It's baffling to watch my Christian and Republican leaders rush to defend Trump even from words as gracious as Streep's. For example, Franklin Graham's post-Globes statement read, 

I say, let's get behind our new President-elect and Vice President-elect Mike Pence and move forward together as a country. They've already made a lot of progress before even officially taking office, and let's pray they continue to make positive changes for the future of America.

Why not just agree with Streep that Trump was wrong? Why are we using our voices to defend Trump (who, as the most powerful person on earth, presumably needs no defense) instead of defending the reporter, or anyone else Trump has bullied?

He's big. He doesn't need our convoluted explanations of how mockery really isn't mockery or sexual assault really isn't sexual assault or lies really aren't lies. For our part, let's rush to the defense of the powerless before we sacrifice our integrity defending the indefensible.