No, I am not like you. Please stop laughing.

If you follow my blog you might have read the posting during which I chat about the things I do to protect my marriage.

One of the points I discuss in that blog is the practice I have committed to of limiting the times I am alone with a woman other than my wife. Recently, I have been challenged in this because my supervisors for both of my jobs are female. I have been laughed at, told that I won't be working if I can't be scheduled alone in the building with one woman and received a booklet full of strange looks.

First, I'm struggling with how one gracefully explains that out of respect for my wife I choose not to be alone with a single woman. (At work I am okay with being alone with a group of women.) Somehow every time I have said something it always comes out less graceful and put together then I imagined it would.

Secondly, these are the first times that I have ever been laughed at for my moral and faith based values. My first thoughts are "wow, painful" but recently I've been wondering what that says about my past values and the culture as a whole. Does one need to be laughed at or mocked by secular culture to have strong moral values? Does being laughed at by this culture mean that I actually have values beyond the basics of murder, etc? Clearly, not everyone commits to practices that protect his or her marriage like I have, but we also live in a time when divorce and infidelity are insanely high. Should I be proud of this laughter and criticism?

I have recently learned that I am going through a test of my commitments. I don't think that I will have to push back as much as I am now as often in the future, but I do think this is some sort of adjustment period for me. I was prepared to be different. I was prepared for it to be a struggle internally. I was prepared for the adjustment of having to pay more attention. However, I was not prepared for this commitment to become so public at work or for me to literally be laughed at.

I appreciate the challenge, God, and with You as my light I will follow.