Thank God for sex, eros, and celibacy

What a wonderful thing sex is! I've decided to praise it although many Christians are so priggish about it. But it's such a wonderful thing.

I suppose the Lord could have enabled us to procreate (or rather co-create) children without all that fun. It certainly would have made life less complicated. But he made it fun. And healthy. And a kind of wonderful vacation -- for married folks. It relieves stress, it aids sleep, it helps the respiratory and circulatory system, it creates intimacy and a feeling of being loved. It creates children. That's not all it does I'm sure but seeing I'm not a medical person, I can't think of anything else.

Eros also exists. And Eros can also be tainted. Sometimes physical bodies don't even have to be involved. Some folks fall into sensual longing by listening to a song, or by falling into a worship for God's creature instead of God, the Creator. Some people become erotic after they have drunk too much alcohol.

Of course, like all other human apettites, it has gotten tainted by human pain, human cruelty, and human evil. God is cool. I have no doubt he allows for some strange sexual stuff between married people. There are of course certain things he doesn't allow. No incest, no rape, no necrophilia, no bestiality, no homosexuality. Life happens, however, and some of us have very screwed up lust-maps. The sexual instinct is very hard to heal. Trust me, I know it. I'm a black woman and because of my personal history I have never fallen in love with a black man. In fact, my sexual orientation seems to be toward any guy who isn't. The Lord heals, though. And if the healing doesn't come, or if we are not married, there is always the blessing of celibacy. In whatever state we find ourselves, the erotic exists. And God's power to uphold us also exists. Day by day, one step at a time, he helps us.

So today I'm praising God for those good things He gave us that complicates our lives, or that others have complicated for us. Praise God for good things -- even those things the world and life have tainted. He is our restorer, healer, and upholder.