成人快手

From Dr Jim Harris, Art Historian:

听Singleness, paradoxically, is not a single thing.听 There are varieties of singleness.听 Once upon a time in the olden days, for example, everybody seemed to have an unmarried maiden aunt.

My maiden aunt was Auntie Grace.

Auntie Grace was born when Queen Victoria was still alive and lived to be 93.

Once upon a time, in the aftermath of the First World War she had been engaged but she never married.听 But that was not what defined her.

She was a teacher and headmistress.

She was Captain of a Guide Company and a leader of Bible study and prayer groups.

She travelled, to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

She wrote innumerable letters to me and my family.

Amazing Grace, indeed.听 The thing about Grace, though, wasn鈥檛 the stuff she did or how busy she was.听 It was that she was never alone.听 Towards the end of her life, she was still visited almost daily by all sorts of people: her family; members of her church; her old Guides.

Now the Bible is full of people whose stories are of a single life.听But they are seldom solitary people.听St Paul鈥檚 letters reveal his huge circle of friends, stretching from Jerusalem to Rome.听 Miriam, the sister of Moses, was a prophetess and leader of the people of Israel - and a single woman.听 The sisters Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus, all single, shared a home in Bethany caring for each other and friends like Jesus who came to stay when they passed through.

Like theirs, Auntie Grace鈥檚 singleness was never solitary.听 Rather, it was lived out in a rich array of relationships. She taught me that to commit to your friendships in the long term, to serve in your community, to open yourself and your home to the people you meet are ways of being that not only demonstrate love but gather love.

And Auntie Grace gathered more love and more respect than almost anyone I鈥檝e ever met.听 But it wasn鈥檛 because she was single and therefore had more time.听 I reckon it was because she knew that, single or not, the potential for a good life resides not in one relationship but in many.听 Not in one person who somehow chooses us - but in every person we encounter.