Luky
I HOPE YOU DON'T THINK I'M NAME-DROPPING WHEN I TELL YOU I'VE MET CELEBRITIES.
One of the things I liked about being a reporter was that I met people face to face that I only saw on the television screen before joining journalism.
It had its disadvantages too. It was a Saturday evening and I yearned to be with my family.
A celebrity was appearing at a school in a neighbouring town and he and his cast arrived half an hour later than expected.
I waited patiently in the foyer.
When they arrived, they made straight for the stage and I followed them to ask for a photo.
A man I also recognized as an actor firmly told me the celebrity was running late - as if I didn't know - and that I couldn't take my photo.
The celebrity heard him and came over to us. "I'm sure we can fit the press in," he said kindly. "Why don't we all pose together?"
He smiled, first at the man and then at me, and suddenly I didn't dislike the man any more and grinned at him, while he twinkled back at me.
When I got back home, my children were watching the celebrity's extravaganza on television.
"I've just taken his photo," I told them.
"What's he like, Mommy?"
"He sings like a bird and is the perfect gentleman," I said.
When I read that he and his wife were having marital problems, I really worried.
Having met him, I could understand why she wouldn't want to lose him.
In my hearing, people made jokes at his expense but these never made me laugh.
Others said his wife should have more pride. She shouldn't wear her heart on her sleeve.
"If a man treated me like that, I'd divorce him and sue him for his last cent," some women said.
But why should his wife lose her husband, simply because a few people she didn't even know felt she should have more pride?
Sure, he behaved badly. He was only human and in the sort of life he led there must have been many temptations.
That did not excuse him but he will have to answer for his own life before the Lord, as we all must, and He shows mercy to the contrite-hearted.
If the celebrity's wife still loved him she had every right to try to win him back.
I saw a photo of them once. He and she were at their daughter's wedding.
She looked broken-hearted and emaciated and he was a picture of guilt and contrition, lacking all glamour. But they were holding hands.
I think women can learn from the celebrity's wife. She was a woman who had loved and forgiven much.
She had not forgotten the joys of decades of married happiness because of a husband's yielding to weakness during his mid-life crisis.
To my mind, whether she got him back or not was not the issue. It was her loyalty and devotion which turned a tawdry scandal into a triumph of failure.
She knew life is simply too short to bear a grudge. And her humility and simplicity made her a legend in her own time.
Catherine Nicolette
From time to time I have heard of relationships and marriages going through rocky patches.
Many feel free to comment and pressurize the offended partner to divorce and get on with life.
And yet . . . there are indeed times when a relationship, a marriage can be saved.
It takes forgiveness and, for both parties, a long time for the offended partner to rebuild the utter trust that was so badly hurt.
It is true that some, given a second chance,
re-enact the same behaviour and permanently damage their marriage.
But there are many, unsung and unpublic relationships that have overcome trials and seemingly unsurmountable obstacles.
Once the pain of unfaithfulness is weathered, love may grow deeper having faced the apparently unfaceable.
If you feel your marriage has no chance, why not turn to God in prayer?
Many miracles are quietly wrought from day to day. Perhaps a miracle may occur in your marriage.
And, if you forgive your partner, do it wholeheartedly. It is a temptation to punish the other in perpetuity for a past transgression.
Don't do it. Leave the past in the past, and build a new future.
As the luminous Marlene Dietrich said, 'Once a woman has forgiven a man, she must not reheat his sins for breakfast.'
I add, 'And vice versa'.
Novena to Restore Marriage
Here is a novena which you can pray asking God for help in restoring your marriage.
Pray the following prayer for nine days:
"Heavenly Father, I come before You today with a heavy heart. My marriage is in trouble and I need Your help. Make changes in my spouse's heart. Make us compatible again, and bring us closer together. Fill us with Your Love and give us the strength to love one another, care for one another, and fulfil Your destiny for us.
Show us the harm caused by careless words, and the pain caused by emotional distance. Bring us together like we once were. Show us how to love one another again.
Heal the division between us. Make us one again.
In Your Name I pray. Amen." [1]
[1] Powerful Marriage Prayer and Prayer Request
http://www.prayers-for-special-help.com/marriage-prayer.html
With thanks to prayers-for-special-help.com
