An excellent verse! However, some feel it their duty to help "him" out by setting you up! They're intents are born out of a concerned heart and while they don't think it mandatory you accept their selection, they do enjoy the challenge of finding the "perfect couple". Some matchmakers are happily married themselves and only wish to see you so as well. Some have married off their own children and must find someone else's to marry off too. Still there are others who have sons who are not yet married, but wish them to be and set out to win you for their son - and more often than not, said situations are in great abundance! However, our reactions to such stratagems can be healthful - "A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones." (Proverbs 17:22, NASB) They say laughter is the best medicine and it even burns calories, so finding the humor of it all the next time the local marriage broker heads your way must be good for you! (Yes, looking up the word "matchmaker" in the computer's thesaurus produces "marriage broker"!)

     This page of "M&Ms" (Match Making Stories) was inspired by one of my own matchmaking experiences…

     "Did you know I have a secret ministry?" a sister in the Lord once asked me. Her white smile was radiant and her eyes were dancing.
     "No," I replied, shaking my head, anxious to find it out.
     "It's my M&M ministry," she continued. Now, what went through my mind was visions of the chocolate candies … until she clarified with a sheepish grin, "Match Making ministry." She looked at me from across the desk and asked hopefully, "Are you single?"
     "Yes, she is!" my friend who was with me eagerly answered before I could respond.
     My dear sister's response of an exuberant "Yes!" was accompanied with a dance back and forth in the space behind her desk. "Oh good!"
     As the three of us laughed, she whipped out a little notebook and turned to a blank page. She sat down, took out her pen and wrote my name at the top. Looking back up at me again, she smiled. "How old are you?"
     "Twenty-three."
     "Oh that's perfect!" Obviously she already had someone in mind. She jotted it down. Whether it was my amazed, amused or shocked looked, she explained that she just has a sense about these things. Then she told us a story about two people who benefited from her ministry and are now married and expecting a child. Then she continued with her research.
     "How tall are you? He HAS to be taller! That is just a MUST!"
     Through my laughter I tried to answer, "5'51/2" but let's just say 5'6" to be sure."
     She nodded her head and wrote it down. "I already have four in mind," she said in her Texan accent, looking quite pleased.
     My other friend spoke up then and told her who she had in mind for me. They were both in agreement that he was the right height and all and even on her list, but then concluded that we'd just have to see.
     My matchmaking friend turned back to me, pen ready. "Do you have any specific qualifications? I mean, he's got to be a Christian, but other than that?"
     Either I couldn't think because I was laughing so hard or I just didn't know how to sum up my long list in one sentence, because I stuttered, "Well…um…." They both anxiously waited for a few seconds. "He not only has to love God, but serve Him with a passion, be totally on fire."
     "Yes, that's good."
     "Oh! And he has to be a gentleman*," I added.
     She looked at me and frowned somewhat, "Well, that leaves out two of them!"
     We continued talking for a while (I don't remember what all was said), but she did assure me that she wasn't talking about me marrying any of them. She would check them out first and let me know what she found.
     I found the entire conversation hilarious! It didn't bother me in the least bit. Since then, she's even let me know if a guy gets points or not. One man she met was telling her about his relationship with the Lord and he mentioned something about having a passion for God and she immediately thought of what I had said. It was the funniest thing when she made a mark in the air and said, "He gets one!"
:) Ha! Ha! :)

* Defining a gentleman goes beyond the chivalry of opening doors and pulling out chairs for women (something of which is unfortunately heading toward extinction in our culture). On a movie I watched one time, the man said he would marry the girl, not because he loved her (because he didn't), but because he had already given her his word as a gentleman, and as such, he could do nothing less than his word. He acted honorably even to the point of sacrificing his own desires. Therefore, a true gentleman allows himself to be nothing less than being full of integrity, honor and respect. It's about doing the honorable, noble and virtuous thing simply because he's a gentleman. Girls, we would be wise to follow a true gentleman's example and be true ladies of integrity, honor and respect - for who can a gentleman marry, but a lady?