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Sidenote: Okay so the title of this post is a Relient K Christmas album title and not of my own genius… but whatever. Go with it.
Last night it finally started snowing in the Chicagoland area. We had a little teaser earlier this week where it was flurrying a little without ever sticking to the ground… but last night I drove a half hour home from a friend’s place in the snow, and I woke up to a fresh bright white blanket of it resting quietly on top of the lawn and driveway and tree branches. I was excited to see the snow, for sure, but I was also excited because I could finally start listening to Christmas music without feeling weird about it.
My rules about Christmas music are generally that one should at least save it for Thanksgiving Day. And I know that it fits my rules, but if I ever try to listen to Christmas music when there isn’t snow on the ground… it doesn’t feel right yet. How can I sing merrily about walking in a winter wonderland, when everything around me is green?
On a completely unrelated note (though eventually, there will be a connection! That’s how genius works, you know!), I have been struggling with the Catholic Church’s teachings on premarital sex for at least the past year. I didn’t understand why it was so pertinent that we wait until marriage to share an act of love with a person with whom we are in love. I’m 22-years-old, I know that if I were to ever get pregnant I would follow through with it and more than likely go the adoption route, as I can barely support myself, let alone another human being. But I am 22-years-old. I am not 13. Who is to say that I cannot handle that much physical intimacy in a relationship where we are in love and committed to each other? What’s so wrong about that?
And then I realized that similarly to how there is a context for which Christmas music is acceptable… there is also a context for which sex is acceptable. Have you ever listened to Christmas music in July? I mean, you can do it… sure… but you would get sick of it. Christmas music is special. It is designed for the specific occasion of Christmas. You could listen to Christmas music in other non-Christmas months, but then when Christmas comes, you wouldn’t have the music there to help you get pumped for Christmas! You would be used to it! It wouldn’t mean as much. When I listen to Christmas music, I get in the Christmas spirit… which is good… because Christmas is around the corner and the Christmas spirit is needed. But if I were to start listening to it in July… I’d get in the Christmas spirit, and Christmas wouldn’t happen. And that would suck.
So sex is intended to be both a unitive and pro-creative act between spouses. Why? Because it was created for that specific purpose. Sex isn’t about bangin’ some chick you picked up at a bar because you’re “slizzered” (as that hit new song “Like a G6” would say). The media gives us this cheapened version of what sex is. When you realize what potential sex actually has to bond two people together in love, as well as bonding that couple with God, and you know, makin babies and families and stuff… man! That stuffs crazy. Why water sex down so that you could have it with everyone, when you could use it in all its glory in the right context at the right time with the right person? Hm?
So I guess what I’m trying to say is that to me, sex before marriage is kind of like Christmas music in July. You could do it… but then when it comes to the real holiday, how are you going to celebrate??
Life in the Shady Pews 