I recently told my brand new fiancé that my relationship with him was like pulling off a band aid. That it was best to get over the awkward parts of the relationship quickly, like announcing to everyone we were dating and figuring out how soon is too soon to say those three terrifying words. Needless to say he was less than flattered, but I was being pretty honest in my sentiment. In this age of instant gratification and comfort and joy being society's highest priorities, we tend to try and fast forward through the rough patches and uncomfortable moments. Often this takes the form of someone declaring "AWKWARD!" when someone else is being real or baring their soul or saying "Cool Story Bro..." when someone is trying to be vulnerable. Others seem to can't wait to move on to the next big step or the next big thing, leaving them dissatisfied with their present state. There are some lessons that I seem to never fully learn and contentment is certainly one of them. Sometimes it takes the pain of ripping off a band aid slowly to appreciate how good it feels to finally have it off. We can never truly experience joy without some pain in our lives and we need to bear both with grace and contentment. I read many articles while I was single about singleness and the church, singleness and contentment, singleness and patience, etc. Now that I'm not as single (it still feels weird to not be), I've realized that contentment doesn't just happen when one enters into a relationship. Actually, contentment is even more in danger, because we have one more person to compare ourselves to, and thousands of "happy couples" to measure our own relationship against. I'm thankful for my years of singleness and for the blessings God gave me in that season of my life. As I enter this new exciting and terrifying season, I pray I can be just as content and full of joy in Christ as I was as a single person. I pray that I can stop ripping off the band aids of painful or uncomfortable things and live abundantly in the present. And I ask that you'd join me in that prayer!