Dating & Relationships

It’s said to be the most wonderful time of the year. But the festive season can bring its fair share of dating dilemmas too. Here’s some of the common questions that arise over Christmas, and how you can attempt to smoothly navigate them..

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas… and if you’re dating, you might be hoping for a little extra under the tree – because Christmas Eve is the most popular day of the year for getting engaged. It’s easy to see why: people are off work, spending time together, giving gifts, and there’s already more than a hint of celebration in the air – plus it’s a great time to announce the happy news to friends and family…

‘Are you afraid to fall in love?’ may sound like an odd question to ask on a Christian Connection blog. You’re on a dating website. You’re clearly looking for a partner. So you’re ready to fall in love, right? If only it were that simple.

Another great question I recently got at a Dare to Date event I was speaking at. Short answer: yes you do and no you don’t. That’s very helpful, right?

Year on year, the average age for marriage continues to steadily rise. But for Christians, marrying relatively young is much more the norm, something that can leave those who don’t pair off early on, feeling left behind.

Picture the scene: you’re on the train or the bus, thinking about joining a dating website, and contemplating which one to choose. Or perhaps you’re feeling disillusioned because you’ve been online for a while and you keep meeting people who look great in their profile, but turn out to be everything you don’t want in real life.

One of the things I hear more than I would like to are stories from Christians who say how upsetting their experience of dating a Christian was. While it’s true that no-one is perfect, some dating decisions in church cause a lot of hurt and are unloving. We need to talk about it, and we need to: Say It Isn’t Okay, Tell God We’re Angry, and Talk About Wider Fulfilments.

If I hadn’t managed to open my rather closed heart and mind, I wouldn’t be getting married in June. When I first began to date my fiancé, I found all manner of things about him to judge and criticise. I’d done the same with boyfriends in the past. If I’d have continued like that, I’d still be alone.