"Get thee to a nunnery!"
Frieda Fruitcake writes: Not for the first time, the writings of Carolyn McCulley remind me of none other than the great Bard himself, William Shakespeare!
As Hamlet advises Ophelia to join a nunnery, so too our dear Carolyn seems to be wisely advocating a similar thing.
In her latest article on Crosswalk, Carolyn kindly shares this example of the New Christian Family:
"I have a set of friends who live in a townhouse they’ve nicknamed 'The Abbey.' Each week, one of the ladies cooks for the rest. Though their different work schedules often prevent them from eating together, they’ve agreed to set aside Monday Family Nights as a household priority — a time when they eat together and catch up on the news of the week."
How this also brings back fond memories of a singles seminar I was blessed to be able to attend in London this past summer. The speaker -- who lectures to literally thousands of single Christians in the UK -- spoke of her decision to buy a house with another woman and confided beautifully about how they often sit watching a film together, hand-in-hand no less!
As the speaker stood there in front of us, with her short cropped hair, face devoid of any sinful suggestion of make-up, baggy T-shirt, combat trousers and Dr Martin-style boots, I couldn't help but feel my heart fill with joy at the prospect of these two women embracing their gift of singleness together in such a blissfully contented manner!
The day itself was filled with wonderful suggestions of how to reach a similar state of fulfilment. For example, the solution to loneliness was to be found in active involvement within the "church family".
Plus of course there was the ubiquitous suggestion of getting a cat, should the maternal instinct rear its ugly head. (I wouldn't wish to be negative, but honestly, like any spinster doesn't know that already!)
Praise the Lord for the New Christian Family made up entirely of women and their cats!
Captain Sensible writes: If Frieda will excuse me for this interruption on her post, I would like to make it clear that Frieda is simply describing what she saw and heard at an event which was clearly billed as a seminar for single Christians in London. No other issues were discussed at this seminar, apart from those relating to singleness contentment and the affirmation of the single state.
As Hamlet advises Ophelia to join a nunnery, so too our dear Carolyn seems to be wisely advocating a similar thing.
In her latest article on Crosswalk, Carolyn kindly shares this example of the New Christian Family:
"I have a set of friends who live in a townhouse they’ve nicknamed 'The Abbey.' Each week, one of the ladies cooks for the rest. Though their different work schedules often prevent them from eating together, they’ve agreed to set aside Monday Family Nights as a household priority — a time when they eat together and catch up on the news of the week."
How this also brings back fond memories of a singles seminar I was blessed to be able to attend in London this past summer. The speaker -- who lectures to literally thousands of single Christians in the UK -- spoke of her decision to buy a house with another woman and confided beautifully about how they often sit watching a film together, hand-in-hand no less!
As the speaker stood there in front of us, with her short cropped hair, face devoid of any sinful suggestion of make-up, baggy T-shirt, combat trousers and Dr Martin-style boots, I couldn't help but feel my heart fill with joy at the prospect of these two women embracing their gift of singleness together in such a blissfully contented manner!
The day itself was filled with wonderful suggestions of how to reach a similar state of fulfilment. For example, the solution to loneliness was to be found in active involvement within the "church family".
Plus of course there was the ubiquitous suggestion of getting a cat, should the maternal instinct rear its ugly head. (I wouldn't wish to be negative, but honestly, like any spinster doesn't know that already!)
Praise the Lord for the New Christian Family made up entirely of women and their cats!
Captain Sensible writes: If Frieda will excuse me for this interruption on her post, I would like to make it clear that Frieda is simply describing what she saw and heard at an event which was clearly billed as a seminar for single Christians in London. No other issues were discussed at this seminar, apart from those relating to singleness contentment and the affirmation of the single state.
posted by Captain Sensible at 10:43 AM
6 Comments:
ha ha too funny. I am pictureing the crazy cat lady from "The Simpsons"
Gosh, I didn't know women simply wanted to live alone with their cats. I don't want to intrude on their lifestyle; even though I am a very wealthy and attractive single Christian man desperately looking for a wife.
Guess I'll have to have that vasectomy next Wednesday.
Love the blog.
Speaking of the Simpsons, has anyone ever noticed how pro-family that show is. In one episode, they lumped the singles, childless couples, seniors, gays, and other marginal groups together to show that these alternative lifestyles were actually against the agendas of those who are in real families. In that same episode, they showed how some single women with great jobs and much disposable income throwing themselves at Homer Simpson and his juvenile tricks, just because of their sheer desperation. In another episode, either Patty or Selma (the spinster sisters) go to China to adopt a baby because she simply could not get over her need to be a mother. In another episode, the otherwise squeaky clean, above reproach Christian good neighbor, Ned Falnders, wrestles with having non-marital sex with his girlfriend following his wife's demise.
I have tremendous respect for the writers of that show, and have often wondered how many of them are Christians because of the ideas explored. But I am more enthused that they correctly assess protracted singleness as a deviancy, a lifestyle which will inevitably cause its sufferers much heartache, either because of a lack of intimacy and/or lack of a familial/generational interaction.
Debbie Maken
Apparently candles are the new cats for spinsters!
(Glances around room quickly and realises that there is a lot of evidence to get rid of quickly!)
Have you noticed the Simpsons are probably the only family on TV that go to church regularly as well?
Wait wait...Debbie Maken?
And yeah, let me just say...tried the roommate thing (unfortunately we were both too possessive of the kitchen), and have a cat. He's darling and sweet and has probably saved me from death-by-desperate-self, but he's not my kid and not my husband. I come home from work and spend my weeknights talking to a four-legged animal who can never converse in kind. I sleep in a single bed while he warms my feet. Endearing, but not remotely, in anyone's warped imagination, on a level with marriage.
Whoever says that pets and roommates solve the singleness dilemma are only pouring kerosene on the problem.
I used to have a roommate who made me read many chapters of a book "How to Avoid Misunderstandings with Your Cat." It was really more a lesson for me to avoid misunderstandings with her cats. Let's say I discovered I was neither cut out for roommating nor for cats.
I almost forgot about the Simpsons-- there was another episode where the comic book store guy is at some sort of Trekkie convention, and has an opportunity to explore romantic potential with someone of the opposite sex. She asks him if he will consider losing the costume and moving out of his mother's house. He responds with, "Stop trying to change me, baby?" They say deal and move on. My writing is not doing it justice, but that sequence was so funny.
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