www.vocation.com - Will my love for her fade with time?

	Dennis asks: My vocation and its conflicts. As I have said I am going to the seminary in August and I am firm in my position. The only problem is this: the young lady, she is out of town for the rest of the month. She has only been gone a week and I miss her like I have never missed any one in my life. I dont know how to deal with all the emotions that are bubbling to the surface, where to put them, how to channel them. My decision to go and my current feelings for this girl are driving me into the ground and I cant seem to take it any more. My friends are still a little weird around me and the girls are still freaking out about my decision. But the only person I really care about is this girl and she is out of town, out of reach and soon to be out of my life... and its driving me crazy! How can I deal with all these emotions and will my love for her fade with time?
	Dear Dennis, You have to pull yourself together. If in order to be a priest you are giving up a girlfriend you are obviously going to miss her. If you are giving up your family you are going to miss them. If you are giving up your own personal plans for college and a career you are going to miss them. That is inevitable, unless you have a heart of stone, which would disqualify you from having a vocation. However, what you do, how you react when you are hit by the emotional wave that goes with missing persons and things we hold very dear, depends on you and is going to define you as a person. Are you going to wallow in self-pity, or are you going to re-affirm your decision and the reasons it is based upon? The choice is yours. Are you going to focus on the direction you want to give your life or on the opinion your friends have of your decision? Are you going to affirm your love for Christ, or are you going to keep looking at what you have to give up? The choice is yours. A free choice. A choice made out of love. But still a choice that implies sacrifice and character. God bless. I'll be praying for you.


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