flirting

EmPulse for Week of September 13, 2010

flirting

Do you really want to go there? The eyes…, the smile…, the delicate drop of the head? It feels great, but it could be trouble. Real trouble. You’re attracted, yes. But is it worth it? If you’re 14, or 16, or 18-21, sure it is! If you’re over 30, or married, or divorced, well, it’s a little more “complicated,” isn’t it!? Maybe you should rethink this move.

The fact is we all flirt with the edge every day; we trifle within a fantasy life— get the girl, get the promotion, buy that Jaguar, or, man, those great shoes! Day dreams on the edge of a bad idea. Expensive imaginings drawing us, ever drawing us to pretend a life we do not lead. Don’t get me wrong, dreaming is great! Art, science, creativity, and exuberance for life all flow from within our inner playgrounds. I still dream of standing on top of Mt Everest, of driving that Jaguar XJL, of guiding people to discover who they are and who they need to become, of building that sprawling log lodge in the Tetons & providing our society’s leadership with some rest, reflection, and godly insight; I dream about growing old with my wife (but not too old), of taking my grandchildren on their first climb up Long’s Peak in Colorado (and, yes, the Wall). I dream…, therefore I am.

All of our dreams and aspirations can come crashing down around us if we persist in flirting— flirting at the edge of personal disaster, professional corruption, moral compromise, or spiritual negligence. Flirting may be a wonderful game in our youth but it is a matter of serious consequence as we mature (or not). The genuinely mature individual takes responsibility not only for his actions, but for his heart’s desires as well. Sure, she may be pretty; sure, my husband will never know. I’m only going to do it this once. Don’t kid yourself. Moral, professional, spiritual integrity does not compromise itself; rather, it struggles daily to gain even small victories, to overcome flirtatious abandon with confident integrity. We are on a expedition, in this life, seeking to discover a successful route between putting ourselves first, and putting others before us; anything else will lead, eventually, to inhuman debauchery.

Does all this sound like a warning of impending peril? It is. For, on the one hand, we often take ourselves too seriously and thus take every occasion to stretch society’s rules and regulations that hem us in. On the other hand, we toy with God’s principles for living wisely and safely in this universe and thus flirt with our own demise. To play this game, in either direction, will ultimately compromise us as disreputable human beings.

Flirtation in our youth is a wonderful, fanciful past-time; flirtation with life is a double edged sword. You are going to get cut—deeply.

So, continue to dream, imagine, and scheme wondrous adventures and what ifs. Not to dream is to die. Fantasy can become reality…, as long as it plays by the principles (yea, verily, not guidelines) that God the Creator has deliberately designed for our protection and prosperity, for our safety and successes, for our relationships and our resolutions to differences as we inhabit this world of His.

Have a nice week.

Gary