Perhaps the greatest temptation in singleness is to assume marriage will meet our unmet needs, solve our weaknesses, organize our lives, and unleash our gifts. Far from the solution, Paul makes marriage out to be a kind of problematic Plan B of Christian life and ministry. Marry if you must, but be warned, following Jesus is not easier when you join yourself to another sinner in a fallen world.

Traditional courtship — picking up the telephone and asking someone on a date — required courage, strategic planning and a considerable investment of ego (by telephone, rejection stings). Not so with texting, e-mail, Twitter or other forms of “asynchronous communication,” as techies call it. In the context of dating, it removes much of the need for charm; it’s more like dropping a line in the water and hoping for a nibble.       

For women, ability doesn’t always lead to confidence. Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D.  in The Science of Success, writes why 'bright girls believe that their abilities are innate and unchangeable, while bright boys believe that they can develop ability through effort and practice' in this article, published by Psychology Today.

I could be completely wrong, but I have to side with TSwift a bit: dreaming is beautiful, and there's nothing wrong with it until it takes over your heart and suddenly, you're wounded because you confused your dream with reality. This is where Swafford and I see eye-to-eye.

Dang, I hope writer Christina Mead didn't learn everything from TSwift, but I enjoyed this article because it combats another article on why women should fast from this dating diva (which I happen to disagree with). Writer Christina Mead says, "Essentially, her love gone right and love gone wrong songs are one of the ways God speaks to my heart and helps me."

You are more than that.  And the woman you are looking at is more than her clothes.  She is more than her body.  There is a lot of talk about how men objectify women, and largely, it is true.  Humans objectify the things they love in effort to control them.

Thus what I hope to lay out in this article is not an iron-clad rule for when you should become intimate in a relationship. Instead what I aim to present today is a case for delaying intimacy in a relationship and taking it slower – leaving the interpretation of what “slower” means up to each individual.

Wordsworth called “our tainted nature’s solitary boast” woman. Wordsworth believed that our world’s only hope is woman.

Fr. Michael Paris The complications that feminism brought about in recent times for both men and women will not be solved by embracing the modern gratifications from it, nor by turning back the clocks. Rather, John Paul II writes that the world needs a clarification on the dignity of womanhood and how her changing role is changing society in a positive manner. Fr. Mike draws heavily from Mulieris Dignitatem.

The following is a piece taken from Maura Byrne's Made in His Image. For the link to the original location, scroll beneath the passage. Maura Byrnes spearheaded a new movement called Made in His Image (MIHI), a non-profit which exists to offer hope and healing to victims and survivors of abuse and women struggling with eating disorders. It's an awesome site worth checking out and sharing with a friend. Find her on facebook too!

Something we’ve all come across before is the reality that someone we once knew is no longer the same person. And that’s ok. Change is good. I freaking hate change, but change is necessary.

It was one of the last times I met with my one friend before she graduated that she gave me The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything by James Martin. The following are some of the most beautiful insights to friendship I’ve ever received, paraphrased a la moi.

Girlfriends are the ones who will get you through the gritty parts of life. But you have to reach out to them. I fell into this smut (thesaurus is telling me smut is another word for porn, but I’m creating the word ‘smut’ to mean rut….oh hey), so I fell into this rut the fall of my junior year when I thought a lot of my friends were coupling up and cutting me off.