There are Christians who say “sometimes God breaks you in order to use you.” That’s terrifying: if God can only love us by hurting us, then that God is not a good God but evil one. That theology abuses us, not free us. It silences us, not save us. That’s not of God or Jesus.
How long people are married says nothing about the health of the marriage.
People who can’t stand to be in the same room spend decades together.
Some live double lives.
Some couples haven’t had a real conversation in 25 years.
Don’t idealize longevity.
Idealize relationships where you see mutual respect, admiration, and underneath it all: true friendship.
For Lent, I read the whole Bible in 40 days. It’s my 7th time through the Bible. Not easy. But reading it this way gives a big sky view.
Some things jumped out to me more this time. Not new things but mainly this: Scripture really, really cares about the poor & exploited. A LOT.
So, I learned today that Easter Lillies are tricked into blooming on the churches timeline instead of how God designed them and I will just sit with that metaphor and probably cry a little.