In the Dentist's Chair

I went to the dentist today for a cleaning. Now I don't know if you've noticed (you probably have), but it is not the most conducive place to have a conversation. You have somebody with sharp instruments poking and scraping your teeth and gums, cleaning away plaque, then polishing, and so on.

Now the young lady who is my hygenist (I'll call her D) is a very nice and also a talkative sort, which is not a problem. The difficulty for me is when the "conversation" includes questions. Deep questions that need to be answered. Questions that the obvious answer to is Jesus Christ and His Words of life. Like most of us, this lady has had her share of hurts. She has also had difficultly in the relationship (male/female) arena. I know this from past cleaning "conversations."
It started out by D simply commenting that my teeth and gums looked good. I replied during a pause in cleaning actions that it is amazing how that is more prone to happen when we are not experiencing high levels of stress in our personal life. D's reply was that high stress happens with marriage, divorce, and death... which led to more interesting discussion. D started talking about how she would have a difficult time getting married because it is so difficult to be sure that the person would be the same after marriage and be willing to stick it out through tough times and so on. I agreed with her that it can certainly be tough at times. D then asked me, "You go to church right?" After my affirmative replay, she then proceeded to ask me questions about what I thought about some scriptures having to do with marriage. I was careful to try to answer faithfully to what the Word says, not what I think about what it says. I was also thinking about the blogs I've read at The Covering by some who are probably far more qualified people to answer this than I, but this was the divine appointment that God had called me to.

The basis of my answers was this: There are no guarantees and there are lots of temptations out there, but the bottom line is that it comes down to God gives us the place to make choices. Sometimes we have to make difficult choices that we would rather not have to choose.
When we become disenchanted with the person we've been married to and living with for 20 years, and we start nitpicking things about them, we cause ourselves to "fall out of love" with that person. This is a destructive road and it is the devil's playground. All of a sudden some other person seems so much more attractive, so much more ideal, maybe even more interested in you than your spouse. And the devil feeds this fire all kinds of fuel because he hates marriage. He hates everything that God says is good and he wants to destroy it; he wants to destroy God's people and he has lots of experience doing so.
This is where it comes back to choice. I can choose to tear down, or I can choose to build up. The results of my choice will lead to an end, either good or bad. Loving someone is a choice. There are physical causes responsible for the initial "feeling" that we think of as love when we are enamored/infatuated with someone, but it goes away. Today, a lot of divorces happen because the infatuation fades and the "we're not in love anymore" feeling creeps in.

Real love does not go away. Real love requires work. Real love is based on choosing to put another before yourself; To esteem them, to build them up. God works miraculously in this kind of love.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;
I Corinthians 13:4-8 NASB

Lord, I pray that the seeds that you allowed me to plant today will find a place in D's heart and that You Holy Spirit will bring life to her through the revelation of Jesus Christ to her heart. She needs you. Thank you Jesus for Your perfect intercession for D.

I am grateful for every opportunity the Lord provides me to be His witness. He has done great things for me. In Him will I rejoice and lift up my voice. In God alone is the Way and the Word of Life. I am so thankful for the forgiveness I have in Jesus Christ. To Him be all glory and honor and power forever and ever.