My heart has been called to speak. The past few days I’ve struggled with how to
best articulate my thoughts on the issue of marriage in a thoughtful and respectful
way. Not to condemn or to judge, but to
proclaim and rejoice. So, after prayer
God has given me counsel: *[Jesus] has
given me reason to abandon the easy path for a more perfect mission of love.
But
I walk in integrity; redeem me and have mercy on me. My foot stands on level ground; in the
assemblies I will bless the Lord. Psalm
26:11-12
It is my belief that marriage is a holy sacrament meant to
join one man and one woman. (Now, hold
on and hear me out, please).
The idea that two people that love and care about each other
and have chosen to spend their lives together and raise a family together is an
admirable one to me. I know the
difficulties couples face on a daily basis and I know adding challenges of any
kind only increases the hard work that goes into keeping a couple and/or a
family secure. I appreciate any couple
that makes the effort it takes to be faithful, to work through hardships and to
provide a loving home to a child. I
think it is fair that those couples be subject to the same benefits in
insurance, taxes and such. However, this
doesn’t change my belief that the sacrament of marriage is a covenant
established by God for joining together a man and a woman.
Over the last few days I’ve seen so many statements for and
against the Supreme Court ruling on marriage.
It really does hurt my heart to see what division this has caused among
people in our country. I don’t think
that standing up in favor of the ruling makes you a “demon” any more than
speaking out in opposition makes you a “bigot.”
The word “hate” has been used so much it makes my eyes hurt.
Tolerance. The
dictionary defines tolerance as the ability or willingness to
tolerate something , in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that
one does not necessarily agree with.
But I feel like we would be remissed to leave out that tolerance is a
two way street. And, tolerance doesn’t
mean condone. I’ve seen a lot of
condemning those that don’t approve or sanction one’s beliefs or feelings. In either direction, that’s not right and it’s
not showing love on any level.
I sincerely believe that love never fails and I hope – and am
confident – it will win here and now.
Not necessarily what each of us believes love should look like, because
those things are clearly so different.
But what God says love IS.
Love
is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud. It does not dishonor others,
it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it
keeps no record of wrongs. Love
does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always
hopes, always perseveres. 1Corinthians
13:4-7
For
all my brothers and sisters with worry over this time in our world, those
feeling unaccepted and judged – no matter which perspective you are looking
from, I ask you to increase your faith and I offer you this:
He
replied, “you of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and the
waves and it was completely calm. Matthew
8:26
*RegnumChristi.org, June 30,
2015
