Christian Love FAST

Tbt to Lent I gave up "romantic ideation". In college, I definitely a bit of a hopeless romantic. I religiously watched Say Yes to the Dress and The Bachelor. I wore my heart on my sleeve. But, it wasn't really until my senior year that I had felt like I was ready for a serious relationship. At that point, I felt like I'd done such a good job of grounding myself (having been on every BC retreat under the sun) and knowing what I wanted. And so I had built up this expectation that now that I was "ready", Mr Perfect could walk through the door. But he didn't, and so I spent a lot of unnecessary energy towards people who were not that person. And leaving my heart so open, I let myself be open to some self-doubt and disappointment. And so I gave up "romantic ideation to create a space for me to get to know people as they were without expectation or hope of it blossoming into something more. I let myself focus on seeing guys for who they were and not who they were for me. I learned to let my relationships be as they were and not what they had the potential to be. This gave me the space to be more discerning about what I needed in my life and what I wanted, and what I really deserved in all my relationships (friends, God, self). So here's to another Lent of being attentive and reflective and giving myself the space to be better in all of my relationships. St Augustine and ordering love so that all love flows from good place