The Force of Divorce (part 1)

I don’t think we truly understand what divorce is and why God hates it. For example, if I gave you the Merriam Webster’s definition of divorce, the action or instance of legally dissolving a marriage, more than likely you'll find that definition insufficient. If you are divorced or your parents are divorced, you know that definition lacks depth and substance. It’s like a survivor of a devastating hurricane describing his experience as “I witnessed a tropical cyclone with winds of 156 mph that was accompanied by heavy rain thunder and lightning.” You know that surviving a category 5 hurricane is bit more involved than announcing a weather report. (Ask anyone who survived Hurricane Katrina.) And yet every survivor’s story is unique and personal.

I especially believe we don’t get what divorce does to our children. I’m not saying that I completely understand it either. I’ve never been divorced, (not even close), but I do know how it affected me as a kid. Divorce is more than a legal termination of a marriage, it’s the death of what should be and could be. Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand why some people get a divorce. When children are abused and the environment is violent and destructive, the decision to divorce is a symbol of emancipation, I totally get that. But it doesn’t make the experience less painful or with fewer scars. I see divorce as a force that drops families to their knees in submission to a cruel master.