Saturday, February 13, 2016

Broken Bonds

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.  Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.  And Adam said: "This is  now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of man."  Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Genesis 2: 21-24 NKJV

It was interesting some time back when I resarched,  with the help of a Godly friend, the meaning of the word "Woman."  As he explained it to me, the meaning of the word woman can be translated to "From man."  I suppose this is satisfactory knowing what we know of the creation story in the book of Genesis.  Something else that I find interesting is Gods direction in Genesis 2:24.   Now, I'm sure that we all know the process that these human lives of ours normaly take.  For we are born, we stumble along the road to maturity, we take a mate and settle into the remaining years of our lives.  Then, more often than not, this process completes itself in our own children.  Can one not wonder that this process was not somehow designed to be reflected in this way?  Of course, for those who follow the Lord God, this IS the life process we all follow.  From birth, each of us is intimately attached to our parents.  Ultimately, these are often the very first relationships that we experience.  It is no wonder, then, that our relationships with our own parents often have a lasting impact on our own lives.

So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.  For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.  For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.  "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
Ephesians 5: 28-31 NKJV

I've met countless people who, without realizing it, were affected deeply by their relationship with their parents.  I can totally understand this, realizing that our parental relationships are often the ones that make a most lasting impression on us.  In my own situation, my mother faced the task of raising two young boys alone after my parents were divorced.  For his part, my own father chose not to be involved in the lives of his two boys.  It is no wonder, then, that my relationship with my mother was very close.  She was my provider, my comfort and my support in my formative years.  To her credit, she was only doing what her Lord was leading her to do.  For if not for her, her two boys would have been without that parental relationship.  Too often, we take this relationship for granted.  Be it for good or bad, it is here where our definition of relationship begins.
Often, the relationship we've had with our own parents transfers over to our relationships with others including our future mate.  It is for this reason that strong and healthy parental relationships are so important.  However, it is these relationships that ultimately take a back seat as each of us finds our way into this world.  Where we once came to rely on our parent(s) for our emotional and physical needs, we now search for another to fill the space our own parents once occupied.  We are NOT abandoning our parents, we are only continuing our own life cycle.  In Gods own time, our own children will leave us and pursue their own relationships.  It is  the cycle that our loving God so wonderfully created from the begining.

~Scott~

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