On Passion and Purity

On "Passion and Purity," a book Sara bought me recently...it was agonizing at times, but the meaning left me with fresh insights. The book is written by a missionary, Elisabeth Elliot. By means of narration, journal entries and love letters, she tells the story of the meeting, courting, engagement and marrying of her first husband, Jim, who died while in the mission field.

Did I say "courting?" Yep. Courting. It took this couple about five years, maybe more, to become engaged. At least half of that time was spent praying about whether they should have these feelings toward each other. I'll have to admit that I was annoyed by all the trepidation, and at times I just had to extract the concept and ignore the story in order to keep my mind open to the message.

Instead of letting their feelings and infatuations guide their actions, even when their actions were sinless and natural, they prayed about EVERYTHING and waited on God before making any move toward each other. They guarded their hearts like crazy. Equally, they guarded their bodies. Jim wrote Elisabeth a letter explaining his guilt over the physical conduct they had - she had locked arms with him and walked with her body next to his. At one point, he put his head in her lap. Yeah, so he asked her to help him stay within his physical boundaries. And she did. They shared their first kiss when he proposed to her, about five years after they met.

How probable is this type of courtship in today's world? I suppose it's very possible, but it doesn't seem probable. However, I do see the importance now of guarding my heart, taking my feelings to God and proceeding with relationships only after praying and working through my instincts. The Elliots both had missions from God and were not willing to let anything, even one another, stand in the way of that. If we could all aspire to this way of life, I can imagine the divorce rate would greatly diminish. ...So if you tend to let your feelings guide your life like I do, this is a good read. It's also good for people who haven't started dating or are just starting.

And that is my book report.