Sally's theories

Sally is a Christian and she loves the Lord. The Lord has sent Sally a husband in her advanced years, an eminently godly man, but Sally has theories. You might say she is infested with theories.

The man is a widower who was happily married for decades. Sally (who considers herself an astute student of human behavior and of life in general) believes that it is not possible that her husband-to-be will ever love her as much as he loved his first wife. This makes her sad. (There is perhaps a problem with covetousness and lack of gratitude, but that is for another column.)

In Sally's view, it is children that bond a marriage, and Sally will, of course, never have children with her husband. It is also the "thick and thin" (she has rehearsed the phrase numerous times in her head) of many shared years together that bonds a marriage, and actuarial tables promise not so much of that to Sally. Oh, and it is also the fact that her fiancé and his wife married young and practically "grew up together" that make their bond unsurpassable. (There are other theories about his first marriage, but this is all I can think of at the moment.)

Sally also has theories about men on their deathbeds. She thinks that something mystical transpires at such times, and people forget the recent past and revert to the distant past, as if the latter years were naught but an inconsequential parenthesis. And because of all the facts listed in paragraph one (Sally thinks of her theories as facts), Sally is certain that on his deathbed, as he slips into the delirium of the dying, her husband will call on the name of his first wife and not her name. (You will perhaps observe that the latter conclusion of Sally's is a theory built on a theory.)

I hope that there is someone in Sally's life who will rebuke her, who will tell her to stop putting her theories of life above the Word of God. Maybe he or she could read Proverbs 3:5-6 to her, for starters: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your understanding." Someone might want to remind Sally that God is her Father and she is His child, and she must come to Him as a child, not as a philosopher: "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it" (Luke 18:17). A child does not go around trying to find where the landmines are that her father has planted in her path.

Lastly, someone might want to remind Sally that our God is a God who "is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us" (Ephesians 3:20). Ask the woman point-blank: "Sally, do you really believe that God is able to do far more abundantly than all that you ask or think? Or are those just words to you? Go ahead, give it your best shot. Imagine the best and most fulfilling marriage you can. Do you believe God is able to do more for you in your new marriage than what you have imagined?

And it if is Christmastime when you happen to see Sally, you can even lift this verse from the Christmas narrative: "For nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37).

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