A parable of sorts...

We were introduced on a blind date. He was invited by friends to check me out. He liked what he saw so he continued to get to know me. He thought I was exciting and his time with me was like nothing he had ever experienced before. As time went on, he used every opportunity possible to spend time together. There was time with friends, time spent learning together, time spent in prayer and more. Eventually he chose to make a commitment to me and we had the certificate to prove it! As our relationship grew, we started having babies together. At first they were so helpless and naïve – we had to do everything for them!  It was great to see how they grew and developed! I loved seeing all those wonderful moments of discovery as they got older! We really did some great things together as we helped these babies grow up!

We started to outgrow our space and started looking for something bigger. Nothing was quite right to meet the needs of our growing family, so we decided to build something brand new. It was a really exciting time as we made big plans for our future. As our home grew our family grew with it.

But then things changed. He was no longer my only focus. As our family expanded there were so many other things pulling at my attention, so many other people who needed what I had to offer. I couldn’t just focus on him when so many other people’s lives were at stake. At first he was happy to be part of this new adventure in our lives together. But when it changed the dynamic of our relationship, he complained that things were starting to “feel” different. He started to think he didn’t belong with me anymore.  

As his feelings for me changed he started looking for other places to get his needs met – other places that would make him feel like he used to feel with me. Now we have a broken relationship. He has chosen to leave me. Our poor babies! They have no one to help them grow and develop! They’ve become orphans with no one left to care for them. What’s worse, he took his finances with him and now we’re left without enough to make ends meet. We can survive without him, but I sure wish he had seen his commitment through the challenging times because we really need him around.

Perhaps this is a story of a marriage ending in divorce…..or perhaps it’s a story of a church losing one of its members. You decide. Is the heartbreak and devastation that much different?