Jon and Kate Plus 8

I don't watch the show often. When I do, it seems like I'm caught in a marathon event. Family life always has a certain level of captivating power over me. Tonight I watched the season premiere. I thought is was absolutely tragic. I came VERY close to turning off. I found it completely devastating to watch Jon and Kate's marriage fall apart before my eyes. I cannot imagine having to live what they are currently going through. I do NOT want to make judgments. I do NOT want to criticize. Jon and Kate are merely the stimulus for this train of thought I'm riding on; what follows here is in no way meant to be an analysis of their lives. I think that divorce is one of the most heart-breaking realities of our times. I cannot imagine having a marriage entered into with such hope, joy, dreams, and deep love fall apart. I cannot imagine the pain that must be involved when one looks back, as his marriage falls apart around him, on something that was entered into with such promise. A lot of times I have heard attempts to justify divorce with the claim that it will be better for the children. Somehow people think that if they end their marriage but remain friends, their kids will learn that they are important and loved. Perhaps the kids will learn that. However, I cannot agree with a claim that says that that situation (involving the destruction of the very foundation of society) is better than doing everything to fight for a marriage. I am not married. Nor am I close to it. I know that marriage is significantly harder than I could ever pretend to know it to be. However, I also know that self-giving love is the answer to the difficultly. It doesn't eliminate the difficultly, but it does provide a constant direction. It enables an individual to know at least the first step to solving marital problems: by dying to yourself. I think that it all begins with finding fulfillment in Christ and in learning not to seek fulfillment in your spouse. What the world is desperately crying out to understand is that no human can give you everything you need. That is not how we were created. We were created for a supernatural end, and it is only in the supernatural (only in God) that we can find satisfaction.