This last June my wife and I were invited to a close friends wedding. June it a normally a hot month in our area, with blue skies and temperature in the mid nineties. It is not unusual for people to plan outdoor weddings, and take advantage of our nice summer climate. The wedding we attended was no exception. They were holding the ceremony in a little park along the river, with just a small group of friends. We were all arriving and noticed that a few clouds had blown in overhead, but we figured it was still going to be a warm day. The event started, and the wedding party proceeded to do their march down the aisle, when "drip, drip, drip" a few drops were being felt. Then it began to pour, a summer rain upon us. As I set there getting wet with my wife along my side, it accrued to me something, "sometimes it just rains in life."
What do I mean by that? Well when we left the religion, and I know this has happened with others as well. We had some crazy things happen, or events that kind of shook our world a little. To those still in the Kingdom Hall, they saw such events as Jehovah pulling away his holy spirit and thus allowing in Satan's demons to attack. They felt these "rain storms in life" were meant to teach us that leaving Jehovah's organization was a mistake we should regret.
I remember in my past being in the congregation and seeing people disfellowshiped, and than looking for all kinds of things to happen to them. If they had a daughter get pregnant, or a spouse leave them. We would always make that statement, "see what happens when you leave Jehovah and his organization." We made these comments, while we ignored the fact that one of our local elder was currently having the same thing happening in his life as well, while he still attended the services within the Kingdom Hall walls.
Jehovah's Witnesses tend to want to feel at times, that people who leave the religion would get some sort of extra punishment, beyond the disfellowshiping and having their families taken away. I think they wanted a little extra proof that this action, of the elder body, was the will of Jehovah God and not just men trying to find proof to their judicial committees actions. In doing so though, we often picked out the obvious and the normal to mean something it wasn't.
So when I set at this wedding, in what should of been blue skies and a warm day, with a slow summer storm approaching that was getting us all wet. I was happy to see what real friends do in these darkened time. They do not sit back and point fingers, and say, "look you are getting what you deserve." No, the first rain fell and suddenly a dozen umbrellas opened and protected their friends, the groom and the bride, from the sudden unexpected down pour. The wedding went on and the day was something to laugh about, and remember for all time with a smile. Not for the rain that arrived, but the love shown in the people who stood, with umbrella, by their friends and loved ones side.
For it is true in this time, "that sometimes it rains in life" and yet we must ask, are we someone who points at another's pain, or are we someone who hands a umbrella to are friends and stands by their side?
<Handing the whole room a umbrella>
My thought
Dragon
Edited by - kenpodragon on 23 October 2002 17:7:24
