“I want to play it safe when it comes to dating women,” Tim said to me recently. “I’ve been divorced, burned too many times, and I’m not going to be burned again.” And Lisa, a single woman, frustrated in her dating experiences, said this to me. “I go out with these emotionally unavailable ‘bad-boys’ because I dread the humiliation of being dependent on a man, then having him leave. I try to prevent that feeling by choosing men I know won’t get involved, so I could tell myself that it was all under my control.”

Two different people, both angry and frustrated, deciding in various ways to play it safe. As the saying goes, “Better to be safe than sorry.”

Or is it?

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you have probably experienced the crumby feeling of rejection. You know the twisted aching after he/ she leaves. The desire to have them back, even if they weren’t any good for you. You know what it feels like to have loved and had your heart broken.

The issue we will explore is not whether you have had your heart broken—that goes with the turf. The issue is what you have done in response to those experiences. Have you withdrawn into bitterness, like Tim? Have you blamed all of the problems on the opposite sex, claiming innocence in the matter? Perhaps you have decided it simply is not worth it to reach out again and again, only to be wounded and humiliated.

If you have loved deeply, you have probably been wounded deeply. If you have risked letting someone into the inner reaches of your heart, there may still be a place inside that aches when you think about him or her.

But, what to do now? Are you ready to love again?

Our seventh trait in this series to determine if you are really ready for love is having the courage to take risks for love.

Intimacy has been defined as “into-me-see.” If you are really ready for love, you are willing to take risks, even though it means risking being hurt, and being willing to do the healing work if loss occurs. It means squeezing every ounce of learning out of the wound. It means submitting every experience to God, asking what can be learned even in this painful situation. The Apostle Paul says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8: 28)

Understanding that “grief is the healing feeling,” you allow any grief and pain from your previous relationships to carve out an even deeper place for love to reside in the future. The danger, of course, is to do what the Tim and Lisa have done: put up various barriers so no one can hurt them again. They have created crusty shells that no one can possibly penetrate. They carry their wounds like armor against a malicious enemy. Of course, the armor only serves to insulate them from anyone who might love them and help them heal.