faithful

They had nothing to say to each other. After an eight year marriage of serious emotional abuse by both of them and an entire weekend spent in an intense couple’s therapy retreat, they sat across from each other with nothing left to say. 

Their pastor of twelve years sat in a chair to his left and her right, the three bodies forming points of a triangle. After ten minutes of complete silence, he cleared his throat. “I need to know your decisions; will you each walk out of here and call your lawyers to end this or will you stay here and figure out how to make things work?”

Sandra looked over at her husband and ran a finger across her wedding band. Matthias gazed back at her and sang the first line of a song they wrote together during their engagement, “In this culture of solitude we sit beneath an old oak tree…” He stopped and waited for her reaction.

She burst out in laughter with tears in her eyes and finished the verse, “And we stare at a faithful blue sky where we still discover…”. Her husband joined in for the last line and they sang together, “New ways to make each other laugh.” At that, they got up and embraced across the coffee table.

Matthias spoke first, “Simon, I think I speak for both of us when I say, no matter what it takes, we’re not going to throw away our last eleven years together. This weekend has definitely changed me and I can see that Sandra has changed as well. Thank you for all you’ve done for us, we’re going to work this out no matter how hard it becomes.”

The pastor smiled wide, “I thought that’d be your answer. You’re scheduled for Tuesday at 10am in my office, please don’t be late.” With that, he walked out and left the beautiful couple singing the rest of the song and dancing together.