What Does God Need With A Website?

                                             Source: ChristianMingle.com

The month of February can be quite dreadful for single Catholics like me because of two words: Valentine's Day.  Being reminded how lonely you are is bad enough but the holiday's exaggerated expressions of romantic love is like rubbing salt on a open wound.  

According to the television, what I really need is a website.  Sappy advertisements for ChristianMingle.com have littered the airwaves these past few years and I find them to be incredibly annoying.  The commercials feature some of the happiest couples in all of human history.  They hold hands, embrace, jump for joy and constantly smile whether they are going for a walk, planting a garden, volunteering at a soup kitchen or just lying on the floor.  It's the kind of imagery that's supposed to make hopeless singles yearn for love.  Then come the cheesy tag lines:

"Find the person you were meant to find."

"God has a plan for each of us.  It's a plan that starts with

 you and becomes stronger with the power of two."

"Find God's match for you."

Of course, we hear the offer to join for free but there's no mention of how much a paid membership costs or what limits are placed on free accounts.  There's a lot to dislike about these ads.  Relationships can be very complicated, subtle and even challenging but we only see the overtly good things about falling in love.  The tag lines have such an air of authority, it's like they are implying the results are guaranteed.  What if I join and don't find the person I was meant to find?  What then?  God has a plan for each of us?  What is it?  I've been trying to figure that out for a long time now.  How did ChristianMingle.com get inside information?  Find God's match for you?  What does God need with a website?

My many years without a significant other makes me wonder why God in His infinite power and mercy has never steered a good woman my way.  During college, I spent a lot of time exploring Boston but I never met anyone who would have made a good girlfriend.  Many of my fellow classmates had a big anti-religious streak and commuting on public transportation only led me to encounters with strange people.  The few times I went out to a bar resulted in me sitting by myself trying not to look awkward.  The occasional church function never went anywhere, either.  Just seeing a girl out in public that I'm remotely attracted to has been a rare occurrence.

In all those years of taking the train into Boston and exploring the city's neighborhoods, I couldn't have randomly bumped into a nice woman and struck up a conversation with her?  There were no like-minded classmates in college?  Not once could I catch the eye of a girl at a bar?  Church functions don't attract any single females my age?

Many religious dating websites claim to have the answers.  They say good things are on the horizon but we have to be patient.  Love will come but only when God is good and ready.  They seek to justify a single person's empty years instead of viewing them as a big waste of time filled with lost potential.

Yet another Valentine's Day is going to pass by me without someone to love.  Where have you been, God?  Don't you hear my prayers?  How many more years must I lose?  Is it your plan for me to be so lonely and bitter?  Sometimes it feels like the God who's supposed to know what's in my heart doesn't really know me at all.