Relationships

I'll confess, I don't know squat about relationships. I'm learning that there has to be an equal amount of giving and receiving. As a single woman, I think I give a fair amount, maybe even too much. I am realizing that I don't know how to receive. I really don't know to receive. Whether it's hospitality, compliments, a good conversation, or just a friendly hug, I don't receive well.
Receiving is an art form. It takes a truly humble and thankful soul to receive well. The woman at the well is coming to my mind right now. She received her forgiveness and boasted in her Savior. There isn't anything mentioned about her continuing in her sin or having to go through weeks of counseling before understanding why she had had 5 husbands.
This sort of stuff eludes the modern, evangelical mind. Especially us modern, reformed, educated evangelicals - we don't get how one can just accept forgiveness and boast in their Savior. We must pick apart, analyze, recycle, regurgitate, and then attempt to ascend our souls to the truth of our need for a Savior. There is no just simply receiving and boasting.
Being a woman just further complicates things too, I think. I'm told that men have tunnel vision. They can only focus on one thing at a time. I don't really believe this, but that's what I've been told by men and wives. Anyhow, women have this knack for thinking about a dozen or so things and people at once. I think that's why I admire the woman at the well so much, after she received forgiveness apparently all she could talk about was Jesus.
I wish I could be so focused. No, I'm caught up in job issues, relational issues, summer plans, and being anxious about staying productively occupied in my down time. No just simply boasting in my Savior for me. I keep replaying the Garden scene. "Did God really say . . . ?" and then sewing my own fig leaves. I am Eve. That's for sure.
And yet God fashioned a decent covering for her. He was betrayed and He fashioned a covering for her. Talk about loving your enemies!
"Joy to the world, the Savior reigns. Let men, their songs employ!"