Bible Verse Friday #6

"But after he had considered this, an angel of the LORD appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."" ~Matthew 1:20-21

Joseph has just contemplated divorcing Mary quietly because her pregnancy was, what he thought, a sure sign of infidelity.
But then he had this dream and when he awoke he did just as the angel of the Lord commanded of him and he took Mary home as his wife.

Okay I'm going to take this a different direction today.
Most people read this and think about Christmas immediately and well it 'tis the season.
However, my brain skipped the obvious and got stuck on the word divorce.
I think it has to do mostly with yesterdays post.
Divorce always seemed like a more modern thing.
I never really thought about it as an option in Biblical times.
But there it was a thought clear as day in Joseph's mind.
And here Bud & I stand looking at our families riddled with divorce.
Do you know that my grandparents on my father's side are the only couple I've known to not be divorced.

Let us go through some he-begets (i.e. Bud's Family):
Bud's Grandfather has been married and divorced approx 13-17 times (some of the same women)
Bud's Father and mother divorced right as we started dating.
Bud's Aunt & Uncle are both also divorced from their original spouses.

Now the she-begets ( i.e. My Family)
My Mother's Mother was her father's 2nd wife.
My Parents divorced about a month after Bud & I were married.
My Aunt has been married 3 or 4 times.
My Uncle never married my cousin's mother.
My other Uncle isn't really active in my life (so I don't know much about him).

Bud & I look at this and think to our selves that we MUST break this cycle of divorce in our family.
We made a pact that if things get bad, we WILL seek help (for us that means going to the church for counseling first).

Bud, Myself, Sister-in-law RH & Bud's BrotherBH
We are going to break the cycle of divorce!

Can you imagine if Jesus would have been the product of a single mother? How would the story be told now days?
I'm guessing more children would relate to it, unfortunately.
I picture little kids sitting cross legged saying, "Oh I see so Jesus spent Christmas with his Mom and then he spent Thanksgiving with his Dad...I understand".

We live in a society where marriage is no longer valued.
We live in a society where we think it should be easy and if it isn't well we search for the BBD (Bigger Better Deal).
I'm not trying to step on toes today.
I'm not saying that there aren't times when divorce is the only/best option.
I am saying that as for me and my house we will fight with every fiber of our beings to avoid this route and to break the disease that Satan has plagued our family with.

During this holiday season I want to remind everyone to look around at your family and remember to love them.  The new, the old, the remarried, etc and remember that God made each of them.  I'll be reminding myself that as well this year.

I hope you have a Blessed Friday!