Early on in my dating relationship with Ken, I decided to tell him that I was also occasionally dating a couple of other guys, since I didn’t want him to hear it from someone else.

His response surprised me. He said, “What are you doing that for?”

               
I said, “Well, I only just met you. These guys are my friends.”

He said, “Well, why don’t you just tell your friends you’re dating me?”

Twenty years later, that still makes me smile. I love it that my guy didn’t want me playing it safe by keeping my options open —even at the beginning of our relationship. Sure, we had only just met. But if our relationship was going to have a chance, I needed to distance myself from other relationships.

Our God is like a jealous boyfriend. He wants to be the only one holding our hand. He wants his girl to be surrendered to him alone, and hoping in him alone.

There are times that, even though I’m God’s girl, I like to play it safe and keep my options open. Maybe I’m tempted to take a new job that’s going to siphon a lot of extra time away from my family, just because it will offer more financial security. Or perhaps a family member is doing something illegal or immoral, and I hesitate to say something because I don’t want to threaten my  safety net of family relationships. Or maybe I want to keep my kids close to me, rather than sending them on some scary missions trip, because that feels risky.

God says, “What are you doing that for?” He doesn’t want his girl playing it safe! He wants me holding his hand, and finding all the hope I need to face the future, in him alone.