Caribbean Moravian Devotions

I never considered myself to be good at maths but at least I knew enough to get me through the high school academic qualifications. Even if you know how to do the basic addition, it calls for some measure of thinking in the equation of MARRIAGE where 1 + 1= 1. How can an individual come together with another individual and in the process, not two but one be seen. That is a mystery that only could have been birthed in the mind of God. And so as we conclude this month looking at MARRIAGE, for our FF today we ponder: MARRIAGE IS A JOINING TOGETHER.

How interesting that in the MARRIAGE liturgy the word that is used to show what is taking place is the word JOINING. When I think about that the image that comes to mind is a box of puzzle with so many individual pieces. When those pieces are spread out on a table they are all over the place and pretty much everything is in disorder. But in that chaos of broken pieces of a puzzle is something beautiful waiting to be put TOGETHER. And so we begin to build slowly but progressively. JOINING one piece to another, always keeping the final picture before our eyes to make sure that what weÂ’re building matches the original design.


Depending on how many pieces there are in the puzzle and how intricate the original design is some puzzles can take weeks to complete. There’s the constant trial and error of trying to force this part to fit that part only to realize that they don’t belong TOGETHER. But even if it doesn’t belong there it belongs somewhere. So we press ahead because there’s a determination to join all of the pieces in their proper places. When it is finally completed, there’s a sense of pride and joy as we hold it up for others to admire with a smile on our faces to say, ‘see what I’ve done.’ By JOINING TOGETHER all of the pieces we have created one image. We no longer see the individual pieces but a single picture. So too in MARRIAGE!


MARRIAGE is very much like that puzzle with all of the various pieces which when thereÂ’s a JOINING TOGETHER results in a single reflection. The joining of the pieces is a life time activity. There are times when you feel as if all of the pieces are in place only to realize that one may have fallen out. When that happens, spend the time to put it right back where it belongs. To neglect it may mean others falling out eventually. But sometimes we fail in putting the pieces together either because of enthusiasm and self-dependence or because of our carelessness, we stop looking at the original design. Somehow we begin to believe that we know so much and so we join the pieces of the puzzle based on what we think and not what has been laid out for us to follow. In time we soon realize our folly for pieces which are forced TOGETHER but donÂ’t belong TOGETHER will eventually come apart. Follow the original design!


The interesting thing about a puzzle is that even after all of the hard work to join the pieces TOGETHER it only takes something small to cause the finished product to fall to pieces again. How often has that story unfolded in so many MARRIAGES. And yet, once all of the pieces are still on the table, even if one or two may be missing, if thereÂ’s a determination to rebuild and rejoin, then start again. The truth is the second time around youÂ’ve learnt from the mistakes of the first time.


And so today, if youÂ’ve experienced the pain of divorce or separation and the pieces of your puzzles have fallen apart, the mercy and grace of God is available to you to join those pieces again remembering what went wrong the first time. And if for you today after much hard work and prayer the pieces of your life and your spouseÂ’s have been joined donÂ’t be afraid to celebrate and hold it up for others to see. And by GodÂ’s grace do whatever it takes to maintain that JOINING TOGETHER for MARRIAGE IS A JOINING TOGETHER.


Mikie Roberts (Rev)

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http://moravians.net/serendipity/index.php?/categories/1-Friday-Focus