Look Forward

Wow, the last Monday of the year! Next Monday will be the first of a brand new calendar, never before written, never before used up, but we will do so much more quickly than expected.

We will lose loved ones. People will shuffle of this mortal coil to for themselves the answer to Hamlet’s soliloquy. We will gain love. Some will come with births within our families; others will come from friends, still others from friends not yet created.

We will meet new people. We will not, however, learn new things.

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9 KJV)

We may, however, look at old things in different ways. If we continue to carry with us the baggage from years before, we may not.

Right now I’m thinking all of this relative to a marriage that is in danger of breaking up. That’s nothing new. Each one of us can recall watching from the edge of such a disaster, grateful that we’re not in the middle of the whirlwind. Perhaps there is among us one swept away by it. It may be an absolute necessity, a life-saving event. Or, it may be hurt pride. Only the participants know for certain.

My pain is for the children. I’ve seen the damage done to children over years of being torn between their parents. I’ve lived the majority of my life with such a child – determined that his own marriage would last, not simply for himself, but for his children.

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: (Psalms 127:3a KJV)

That verse follows another that talks about laboring in vain:

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. (Psalms 127:1 KJV)

The nation watched a high-profile marriage disintegrate, a wife fight a losing battle against the cancer in her body as well as the death-dealing blow to her marriage. Simple unselfish faithfulness would have saved the marriage and changed the grief.

Solomon’s thoughts in Psalms 127 is echoed in his Proverbs:

Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers. (Proverbs 17:6 KJV)

How do we reconcile for a child the explaining of multiple parents? How to these old men get to enjoy their crowns when they must share their time with multiple sets of grand-parents?

Golda Meier’s quote comes to mind. With respect to Palestinians, she once said peace would come “when they love their children more than they hate us.” I believe that can be applied in marriages where damaged pride is the worst problem.

Love the children, unselfishly. Simple, unselfish faithfulness is not confined to marital vows. Faithfulness to the needs of the children should be a parent’s prime consideration.

Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him. (Proverbs 20:6-7 KJV)