I guess it's just somethin
Sometimes, you get confronted with some hard, Biblical truth at just the moment you were hoping for something else.
I hate today. Two marriages ended pretty much today, albeit several years apart and for some reason that fact is kind of smacking me in the face today. Maybe it's the cloudy weather, or maybe it's frustration that things in that department remain somewhat stagnated. The path still seems to be the path; had a chance to see her the other day, and maybe it's the pain of watching her leave again that's causing old wounds to be a little sore.
I was so blessed to give a sermon on loving others on Sunday, and then there was a chance to see something on Wednesday morning that some others might have missed: There's a married couple or two in our little Wednesday morning group and I'm Facebook friends with one of the couple who announced they were celebrating a longer period of time together than I myself have managed to last in a relationship.
I was watching them a little bit on Wednesday morning and I thought to myself: Without knowing their circumstances, or what their relationship is like on a day to day basis, in the moment that I caught sight of them together, I wondered to myself about how they managed to stay together. I don't know their story. I just know them from the Bible study group, and by no means do I think they're Ozzie and Harriet (dating myself again).
At the end of our time together, which involved a pretty spirited, but honest, discussion about God's nature to love His children, I asked a question: How many people love unconditionally?
I did not raise my hand.
And the Mrs. of the above mentioned couple asked me not once, but twice: Why didn't I raise my hand?
I had to give her an honest, but painful to say for me answer: I am still learning to do that.
I'm alone today. I have nobody to blame for that but myself. I did a dumb thing and disobeyed God when He told me to love someone and I loved her until she did things I didn't like. I loved her until it got hard, and I was too afraid that it was going to wind up with me getting hurt like I did with the second Mrs. C
But in God's merciful wisdom, He's helping me understand what it's like to love someone unconditionally. And some of that looks like seeing the couple I talked about. They're not in the best circumstances, and as I said, I don't know what their relationship is really like, but I do know they're together in circumstances that were far more dire than the ones I faced in my lifetime.
And what I wouldn't give for a chance to fix that colossal mistake. I have to believe it's going to present itself, but the when is unclear. The IF is a matter of faith. The when, a matter of hope.
If it sounds a lot like 1 Corinthians 13:13, I guess so. But that's not the Biblical truth that smacked me in the face that I talked about in the opening. It's another part of Paul's epistle to the church at Corinth, albeit from the second one:
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" 2 Corinthians 12:8-9
So alone it is. And today I'll go on dreading February 14, and what follows it on February 15, which is Singles Awareness Day.
And this year, the irony that SAD is the acronym for that day is not lost on me.
I hate today. Two marriages ended pretty much today, albeit several years apart and for some reason that fact is kind of smacking me in the face today. Maybe it's the cloudy weather, or maybe it's frustration that things in that department remain somewhat stagnated. The path still seems to be the path; had a chance to see her the other day, and maybe it's the pain of watching her leave again that's causing old wounds to be a little sore.
I was so blessed to give a sermon on loving others on Sunday, and then there was a chance to see something on Wednesday morning that some others might have missed: There's a married couple or two in our little Wednesday morning group and I'm Facebook friends with one of the couple who announced they were celebrating a longer period of time together than I myself have managed to last in a relationship.
I was watching them a little bit on Wednesday morning and I thought to myself: Without knowing their circumstances, or what their relationship is like on a day to day basis, in the moment that I caught sight of them together, I wondered to myself about how they managed to stay together. I don't know their story. I just know them from the Bible study group, and by no means do I think they're Ozzie and Harriet (dating myself again).
At the end of our time together, which involved a pretty spirited, but honest, discussion about God's nature to love His children, I asked a question: How many people love unconditionally?
I did not raise my hand.
And the Mrs. of the above mentioned couple asked me not once, but twice: Why didn't I raise my hand?
I had to give her an honest, but painful to say for me answer: I am still learning to do that.
I'm alone today. I have nobody to blame for that but myself. I did a dumb thing and disobeyed God when He told me to love someone and I loved her until she did things I didn't like. I loved her until it got hard, and I was too afraid that it was going to wind up with me getting hurt like I did with the second Mrs. C
But in God's merciful wisdom, He's helping me understand what it's like to love someone unconditionally. And some of that looks like seeing the couple I talked about. They're not in the best circumstances, and as I said, I don't know what their relationship is really like, but I do know they're together in circumstances that were far more dire than the ones I faced in my lifetime.
And what I wouldn't give for a chance to fix that colossal mistake. I have to believe it's going to present itself, but the when is unclear. The IF is a matter of faith. The when, a matter of hope.
If it sounds a lot like 1 Corinthians 13:13, I guess so. But that's not the Biblical truth that smacked me in the face that I talked about in the opening. It's another part of Paul's epistle to the church at Corinth, albeit from the second one:
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" 2 Corinthians 12:8-9
So alone it is. And today I'll go on dreading February 14, and what follows it on February 15, which is Singles Awareness Day.
And this year, the irony that SAD is the acronym for that day is not lost on me.
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