Question
Answer
You say you’ve become fairly good friends, but he’s too shy to make the first move. Do you mean make the first move toward dating? If he’s not too shy to be your friend, why would he be too shy to state his intentions to date you?
Maybe he’s happy just being friends and doesn’t want to date. It’s possible, if you’re both still students, that he knows he’s not ready to marry in the next six months to a year, and therefore, doesn’t want to initiate a romantic relationship yet. Or it may also be that he’s content with your friendship and isn’t romantically attracted to you the way you are to him.
Finally, it’s possible your friendship is meeting his needs for companionship, intimacy and respect, and therefore he doesn’t perceive a need to move the friendship to the next level.
As Debbie Maken would say, you’ve got to leave men lonely enough to need you. Or as Scott Croft said, don’t meet all of a man’s “intermediate needs” lest he never feel the need to marry. The key is to not do so much as his friend that your friendship could be mistaken for a dating relationship. It’s tempting to slide into a relationship because it’s comfortable, rather than deciding to take the bold steps necessary to be a couple with a goal of marriage.
Whatever this young man’s reasons for not moving beyond friendship, I’d encourage you to not try and make things happen. A situation like this requires great wisdom because you don’t want to do anything that sets a precedent for you as the leader. Biblically, it’s a man’s role to initiate and a woman’s role to respond. Scott Croft would say pray and wait, and avoid the temptation to play the grade school game of leaking word to his friends that you think he’s neat.
Sincerely,
CANDICE WATTERS
Copyright 2006 Candice Watters. All rights reserved.
