I remember it like it was yesterday, like any eleven year old who was completely caught off guard would. During a vacation with my mother’s parents, I received the news that would rock my world forever. My grandmother came to me and began to share the news that my parents, who were states away, would be separating while my brother and I were gone. It wasn’t like I didn’t know what divorce was…many of my friends had lived through it. However, my world was turned upside down by the fact that I simply didn’t see it coming.
After a week with my mother’s parents, my brother and I went to stay with my father’s parents. Out of those two weeks away from my home, I only clearly remember one conversation. Both sides of my family had left me with a legacy of faith. That legacy is so much a part of who we are. Sitting at the kitchen table, I watched my nana draw a triangle on a piece of unused napkin. This didn’t make any sense to me, but the picture became clear as she explained. She patiently shared that when a man and a woman marry, it isn’t just the two of them in the relationship. God is also an integral part, whether or not He is ever acknowledged. She added names to each corner of the triangle. She scribbled “God” to the top of the triangle, my father’s name on the bottom left corner, and my mother’s name on the bottom right. She told how when the man and woman are growing closer to God, they are also moving closer to each other. When they are not moving closer to him, they will also inevitably be moving farther away from one another. Eventually they will fall apart because a family is too hard to manage successfully on their own.
These life-shaping experiences stick with you. Culture tells us that we should follow our own desires and pursue what makes us happy. However, we spend little time considering how our actions impact those around us and the generations to come. In the next post, we’ll look at how the decision to break up a family affects our society emotionally. No person ever escapes unscarred.
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