In the beginning. . . In the creation story in Genesis, you'll notice that there is only one thing that God said was not good; Adam was alone. Even though Adam had gone through all the animals and given each one a name and even though there were plenty of choices, there was not one suitable as a companion for Adam. You'll notice at this part of the story God had to put Adam into a deep sleep. I always wonder if this was because Adam was too impatient to wait for God to finish His work. When it was time for the big moment, God woke Adam up, and Eve was in the garden with him. At last he had a companion, a partner; Adam's heart was love struck. He must have been doing flips and cheering when shewalked across the garden towards him.

All of us start out with a heart that is ready to be love struck, willing to love and accept love in return. It is soft and strong, all at the same time. We are designed to be attached firmly to others, to stick like glue to the partner that God has prepared for us. We're built that way. God said "it is not good for the man to be alone". If it wasn't good for Adam to be alone in a perfect garden, then it certainly can't be good for us to be alone in this fallen world. He meant for us to have someone that we can "stick" with, someone who will stand beside us through all of life's ups and downs, and be our strength when we have none left. Without a strong bond, we would never be able support and encourage each other, even when things get ugly. So, our hearts are meant to "stick" for a lifetime. One man "stuck"to one woman. Like Adam and Eve, in it for the long haul, even when things got ugly after that forbidden fruit incident.

Naturally, God knows that sometimes tragic events in our lives can leave us without a companion, so He gave us a heart that could survive getting “unstuck”. As anyone who has lost a loved one or lived through a break-up can tell you, it is not an easy thing to live through. It was never meant to be easy, but it is possible. (It's a lot like having your heart operated on with a chain saw.) Given time, the wounds will heal, and you'll have a heart that can bond again. You'll always carry a scar from the experience, and your heart may never again have the quite same "stick", but you can get close. I can't say I would blame you if you would prefer not having your heart operated on by a large garden tool. It is an awful thought, and anyone who has suffered through the pain of a broken relationship can tell you how awful it feels. With so many relationships breaking up and so many marriages ending in divorce, it seems that just about everyone has either been through it themselves, or has known someone who has. It might seem unthinkable for a person to actually want to repeatedly put themselves through that, but in our society we do it all thetime. We even encourage our teenagers to do it.

It's called dating.

Take a look around. There aren't too many people who grew-up and got married to their "first love". But how many of those same people do you think could tell you the full story of their "first love" with a twinkle in their eye and a sigh in their voice? Obviously their "first love" wasn't the type of person that they wanted to grow-up and marry. So why are they still so fond of those memories? Do you think that just maybe, a part of them is still bonded to that person from long ago?
What is it about that first bond that is so special and so strong?

You know those little stick-on name tags that kids sometimes get on their first day of kindergarten? It is marked with the one thing that they can truly call their very own. The first time they stick it to their shirt, it sticks like crazy, but every time they peel it off, it loses a little bit of its stickiness. It collects fuzz and gets curled up on the corners; by the end of the day it's looking pretty beat up, and there's hardly any “stick” left in it at all. That's similar to what happens to a human heart. If you “unstick” it too many times, pretty soon itfeels beat up and there's hardly any "sticky" left at all.

How many of your dating experiences will end in a wrinkly beat-up name-tag-heart?
How many will end with a chain-saw-heart-operation?

God is preparing someone for you, and preparing you for them. Don't worry. He'll wake you up when it's time.