Are you a single? Have you been told, even by fellow Christians, that you have no life, that you need to get a life, etc.? How do you respond to such comments?
Hi Ms. Mediator,
Great topic! Welcome to the forums.
When I was younger, I used to run into this question a lot, usually at work and by younger co-workers -- often those caught up in the party life. Every now and then, I could get into some serious conversations with them if I asked them about their own lives, and a few might eventually confess that the party life was wearing them down, but yet they didn't know how to leave it.
In fact, when I first joined CC and was often in the chat rooms after work, I told my co-workers about it and one used to say a bit scornfully, "Wow. Are you going home to your online church potluck? How exciting." But I had to laugh at that one, because yes, it was actually true! And this co-worker wound up in rehab a few years later. If that's what having a life leads to, I'll have to pass, sorry.
One thing I've learned though is that sometimes when people tell you to get a life, they're actually unhappy in their own situation and make themselves feel better by trying to sound like anyone living any other way is a loser. I've had times when co-workers and yes, even other Christians told me that since I'm single, I need to be adopting children or somehow contributing to the population.
But what came out over time was them confessing that they actually felt burnt out, unsure, and tired of parenting and their own domestic roles and responsibilities. One co-worker broke down in the restroom one day and told me, "I HATE seeing people like you! I hate seeing people who have FREEDOM!" From then on, I looked at people who criticized my single life a bit differently. Maybe they were nagging me about my life because they actually despised their own and longed for an escape.
It's been a long time since someone told me to get a life. Back then, I probably just would have laughed it off. But I've been part of this circle for a long time, and things are starting to change -- I'm finally starting to see the results of things I've been working towards since I was in my teens.
These days, if someone told me to get a life, I'd have to ask them what having a life means to them. If having a life means going home to a spouse, cooking and taking care of a family, shuttling kids about town, helping them with their homework while worrying about the agendas the schools are teaching or whom their children are friends with, all while trying to read the Bible and get the kids to go to church, then no, I don't have any of that. (And I realize many singles are doing this all on their own, without the help of a spouse.)
But what I do have is some of my own time outside of work and responsibilities -- time that I can choose to do whatever I want with, whether that's reading, a hobby, working out, volunteer work, Bible study, or catching up with friends. When vacation time rolls around, if I've saved up enough money, I can actually go somewhere if I should choose to because my life is not intricately tied to the survival or needs of others.
I guess what I would have to tell the person criticizing me is that, no, I don't have THEIR version of a life, but what I do have suits me and is what God has called me to for now, and no, I'm not interested in changing places with them or chasing after what they have. Maybe when I was younger, but not so much now, as God has taught me a lot about being content in our situations.