We're Not All The Same

Working with the public allows for meeting all kinds of interesting people. I never cease to be amazed with the things that people voluntarily will share with those that they barely know. People just talk & will tell anything & everything. Of the many who have done so, I have related differently with all of them. At times, I feel their pain & my heart goes out to them. Other times, I try to hide the shock on my face of that which they've just blurted out (although, I don't think some of them see it as blurting-it's not accidental). I know not whether one particular individual is perhaps a lonely soul or if they just enjoy talking. Seems that for every person that gets "stuck" having to listen to him, they are not freed for quite a while. Apparently, the man that I speak of spent time serving in our fine military. While in the Phillipines, he met a young lady but over the course of time, had lost touch with her. Somehow, they reconnected & last year, he went to visit her to "rekindle the relationship" (his words not mine). He left on a plane to move to the Phillipines to begin his life with his soon-to-be bride. However, before he left, he spent some time talking with some of us on staff at the credit union. When my fellow coworker waited on him, he complimented her on her wedding set. She gave all credit to her husband as he picked it out all by himself. I was glad to hear her tell this man that it was not about the ring to her but about the man she was marrying. She said she did not care what the ring looked like because she was so in love with the man. The gentleman immediately began on a tangent about how girls nowadays are so materialistic & the appearance of the ring WOULD be of utmost importance to them, etc. He went on to say that ladies today just don't appreciate things. He shared that while he considered moving his future wife here to America, he reconsidered when he had time to think about it & realized that in doing so, she may become "worldly." I listened to the whole thing & was very inclined to speak up for those of us (myself included) who are not materialistic, who don't care if a diamond is real or fake or what karat is, etc. I then thought about this couple's relationship. Obviously, if he feared that she could succumb to the pleasures of a life here in the U.S. & did not trust her enough to bring her here, their relationship is not based upon love & trust for one another. One of the big hits in the country world right now is Jake Owens' "Don't Think I Can't Love You." I love the song--the music & the lyrics. The chorus says, "Girl, I can't buy you a big diamond ring. No house on a hill full of life's finer things. And I tell you there's a whole lot I cannot do, buy baby don't think I can't love you." My desire is to one day marry. I don't seek to marry someone that has a loaded bank account, a mansion, a nice car & everything else that the "world" longs for. I seek to marry a man after His own heart. If that someone has all of those things & that is the person God desires for me, so be it. If not, I'm OK with that too. I long not for the finer things in life but simply to be loved & to love. To me, the blessing of a marriage would be the "finer thing in life." I can only pray that as this man has now made the Phillipines his home, he & his wife will get the happily ever after that he's been dreaming of.