Before I Cheat

       Yesterday I celebrated what I called the “grand finale” of my summer.  Holly (my BFF) and I met up with Anna, one of our closest friends from high school (and later Biz and the MacLeods).  This get-together was extra special because it was our last chance to see each other before Anna leaves for 6 months of mission work in Taiwan.  What I love about my high school friends is that even though our faith wasn't what initially drew us together it is now something that most of us have a deep passion for and can share. 

All of these are of me, Holly, and Anna from high school. Clockwise:
Trying on the latest fashions in Walgreen's,
walking in the homecoming parade with the Patrons in Pink,
field trip to the big city a.k.a DC 

       As we browsed around local shops and stopped in Dunkin’ Donuts so Holly and Anna could get Pumpkin ice lattes (or whatever it is they got), we chatted, made jokes, and goofed off in general.  Once we were done with the approximately three things there are to do in our town we decided to go see a movie.  We rolled up to the theater around 3:30 only to discover it was closed… we live in a really small town.  We weren't ready to part ways yet, so we did what every group of self-respecting young women would do in our situation, we watched One Direction videos on our phones and talked about God.

       Something that Anna said during our conversation struck me so much that I wrote it down to share with you!  As we were talking about our imperfection in relationship with God Anna said, “Yeah, it’s like, imagine you got married and your husband told you he still wanted to see other people.  That is what we do to God when we put other things before him.”  WHOA!  If you know me or if you have been a regular reader you know that my dream in life is to be a wife and mother, so this hit me really hard. 

       All God wants is all of us.  The Church is the bride of Christ and we are the Church, therefore we are the bride of Christ.  As the bride of Christ we are supposed to be completely faithful to him.  Every time we sin, we are putting something ahead of Christ, we are cheating on God.  Think about that! 

       Think about it this way, if someone cheated on our favorite celebrity we would probably say, “What was that person thinking?  Don’t they know that they have the perfect man?! What is their problem?”  We would be outraged and think that they didn't know how lucky they were, yet we have literally the perfect husband and we are unfaithful to him daily.  I know that I was embarrassed when I thought of it that way.  I mean, I would never dream of cheating on a boyfriend or a husband so why do I allow myself to turn from Christ so easily?

       I don’t know if you will connect as much as I did with what Anna had to say, but I had to share.  I think that it has added a new level to my understanding of the destructive nature of sin.  Maybe next time I’ll think before I cheat.

       What do you think about Anna’s comment?  Have you ever been on a missions trip overseas?  Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Drop me a line in the comments below! PS happy 65th post!