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 Previous issues are located in The Archive |
February, 2004 |
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In 1999 we formed an Alumni group to encourage and promote ongoing healing in reconciled couples. Since that time we have designed a quarterly newsletter especially for our ever-growing list of healed couples. We know that continued support and prayer is needed, and are pleased to add this new page especially for our Covenant Couples. Click on the logo above to go to the Covenant Couples page. |
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THE
CRITICAL PATH
This awesome task required careful planning. Different groups did many of the decorating tasks simultaneously, and the flow of each person’s job depended upon other people completing their tasks on time. My assignment was to direct the 40 volunteers on my shift to make sure we stayed on schedule. Everyone wanted the “fun” job of working high on the scaffolding attaching the blossoms to the float framework, but it was the tedious work of cutting individual gladiola petals and then spreading rubber cement on each one that was the most important. It was the most vital because it was on the critical path. Critical path tasks are those that determine how long it will take to complete a project. Non-critical path jobs can afford some delay, but holdups in a critical path task always postpone completion. Anything that slowed down the “glads” delayed completion of the whole float. The Lord used this to deal with me regarding my stand. I have always acknowledged that God was and is working in my life to bring necessary changes. I also recognize that these changes were needed before I could experience God’s best in my healed marriage. But I always thought that what God needed to do in my wife’s life was the harder, more difficult and “longer” changes. To put it another way, I was treating my wife’s condition as the critical path to our reconciliation. Primary focus in my stand was directed toward her rather than centered on me. My attitude that “I’m basically OK; I just need a minor tune-up” was dangerous and was leading to spiritual apathy. God showed me that I (not my wife) am the critical path for reconciliation. Spiritual warfare, binding and loosing and confessing God’s Word on behalf of my wife is good, but these things do not make up the main task. We often use as a marriage scripture the verse in Matthew 7 that tells us that we need to get the plank out of our own eye in order to see clearly to get the speck out of our mate’s eye. Two things in this verse that stand out to me are that a plank is bigger than a speck, and that a speck cannot be removed until the plank is removed. This means that the plank is on the critical path, and God’s Word indicates that the plank is me. Matthew 6 shows us that our main task, our critical path, is to make our eye good so that our whole body (including our one-flesh) will be full of light. The way to remove that plank and restore our eye is found later in the same chapter and within this context: when we seek first His kingdom within us (righteousness, peace and joy) and do His will (righteousness is what God does), the plank is removed and healing comes. Witnessing the judging of the completed Rose Parade floats always thrilled me. The lighting and the music added to the beauty and the suspense, but none of this would have been possible if the critical path had not been completed. My marriage and your marriage in some ways resemble these floats. Just as the floats require a master plan before they can be completed, our marriages have a Master plan that involves many workers. There will come a day when our marriages will be reviewed and rewards determined, but right now you and I are on the critical path. Look at yourself, not your mate, as being the essential part of the reconciliation process. God is the master designer. As He completes His work in you, He will be faithful to complete what He has started in your mate and your family. |
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For
several years I assisted with the decorating of floats for the annual
Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day. Although the planning,
preparation and construction for each float was done months in advance,
tons of flowers and seeds had to be placed by hand on the floats in only a
few days before the parade.
