Are You Dating or Just Friends?

“Where do we stand?”
Are we dating or just friends?"

It's confusing. It's maddening. It's the peculiar place between friendship and dating; I call it the Unknown Zone. You hang out with someone of the opposite sex. But it's so uncertain. Your relationship has not been defined.

Not really.

Sure, it could turn into something real and lasting, or it may not. How can you know when he doesn’t communicate or his signals are mixed?

Michelle McKinney Hammond gets to the heart of the matter in The Unspoken Rules of Love: “If he does not ask you to have an exclusive relationship with him, assume that you are not in one.”

The guy needs to be initiating and pursuing you. If not, she continues, “Consider and enjoy your other options. Do not behave as if you are in a committed relationship when you are not. Doing so will only entangle your heart and set you up for disappointment and heartbreak. If he doesn’t tell you he wants to be in a committed relationship, consider yourself officially ‘just a friend.’”

Entangled. Yikes. That’s a hard place to be—not really in a real relationship, not really out of one and full of uncertainty.

A pastor I know once said, “The proof of desire is in the pursuit.” If a man wants to get to know you, you will know his intentions. You won’t have to guess. Don’t pretend it's okay because of excuses like: maybe he’s just busy, maybe he’s shy, maybe he’s had a family crisis, or maybe (fill in the blank).

The bottom line is for whatever reason (you don’t even have to know what it is) if he is not pursuing you, then you need to let it go. March forward with your life and trust God for the right man for you.

Sure, it may be hard to let go. But when you do, you free yourself up for the Real Thing. Don’t settle for “it's sorta something” when God want the very BEST for you.

And when the right one for you comes along, you’ll know—-because he will show you and tell you.


Today's post was a reprise of one of the most popular blog posts on A New Day Cafe.