Weekend Kindness
Reaching Others Through Kindness

One of the things that always stuck with me while I was dating was a guideline my father gave me about physical intimacy.  He told me that there is an obvious boundary, but with each new physical thing you do (holding hands, hugging, kissing, etc) you want the next thing because of how good it makes you feel.

It was this knowledge that kept me from kissing a girl, until the girl before the woman I married, and it proved that guidelines– when taken to heart– are good to help us to do what we know with our heads is right.

Here are some more dating guidelines I found in Lydia Brownback’s Purple Cellar:

1. A godly woman should allow the man to initiate the relationship. This does not mean that she does nothing. She helps! If she thinks there is a good possibility for a relationship, she puts him at east and encourages him as opportunities arise.
2. A godly woman should speak positively and respectfully about her boyfriend in his presence and absence.
3. A godly woman should give honest attention to his interests.
4. A godly woman should recognize the sexual temptations with which a single man will normally struggle and will avoid potentially compromising situations.
5. A godly woman will build up the man with God’s Word and give encouragement to godly leadership. She should allow and seek biblical encouragement from the man she is dating.
6. A godly woman will make “helping” and “respecting” the watchwords of her behavior toward a man.
7. A godly woman will remember that the man is her brother in the Lord. She should not be afraid to end an unhealthy relationship but should seek to do so with charity and grace. 

Holding Hands, Holding Hearts, Phillips (P&R, 2006).

What guidelines did you have, or do you have?

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