Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Relationships: Sticky, Stickier & Stickiest

Just last year my wife, Myra, and I lead a small group at a local university, and the topic was relationships. We posed a simple question, “Do multiple relationships before marriage serve as good practice for marriage, and do you want your future spouse to be experienced sexually before you get married?” What would you say?

To our surprise the girls said that more relationships were better, and they wanted their husbands to be “experienced”. The guys were a little more conservative.

Next we pulled out a piece of paper and some scotch tape. We applied a piece of tape to the paper, and then carefully removed it. “Is the tape still sticky”, we asked? They replied that it might be, but barely. We asked why not, and they replied that the tape removed some of the paper. We all agreed that you might be able to use that same piece of tape 3 times, but afterwards it would be useless.

I then explained that relationships are like that. The emotional and physical bond that occurs is deeper than we can realize, and when we break this relationship it damages something in each person. Each consecutive relationship is less sticky and the breakup is easier each time.

Finally, by the time we get married the only so-called “experience” that we have is how shallow relationships can get and how easy they are to break. We are left with the memories of others which further pollute the bond that we desire to have with our spouse.

Again we asked the students the same question, but the answer was different this time. “It seems that it is better to wait for the right person”, they replied.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. Gen 2:24

Note: There will be a part two to this post on restoration and how to become sticky again. There is always hope!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I truly enjoy reading your blog! :)

Keep it up! It's refreshing and encouraging! :)