Yesterday morning the sunrise was amazing. My daughter noticed it right away and brought it to my attention. We tiptoed to the living room to look out the front window at the breathtaking display of orange, yellow, purple, blue and red that had painted itself against the sky. It was beautiful. We sat in silence for a minute, just her and I, taking it all in. I looked down at her, still just staring off into the distance. And then she  turned and uttered a few thoughts that I have been wrestling with ever since.

“I suppose the baddest thing EVER would be if a mommy & a daddy were just not right for each other anymore.”

It took me a moment to catch my breath. I looked at her sweet little face as I gathered my thoughts.

“Oh honey,” I said. “Mommy and daddy are always gonna stay together, we love each other a lot.” She looked semi-convinced.

“Yeah, mommy, I know. But some people just aren’t right for each other anymore and they have to break up.”

What? How has this thought crept its way into her mind?

We continued to have a conversation about “break ups” or the word she was really struggling to define, but didn’t even know it, divorce.

And as we talked, my heart was a little heavy. Heavy because in a sense, a bit of her innocence had been lost. Heavy because of the wording she used. Just not right for each other anymore.

I’m not writing this to condemn divorce. I believe, biblically speaking, that there are situations where divorce is a viable option for some. What makes my heart so heavy is what I believe is revealed behind the thought “we just aren’t right for each other anymore.” A lack of commitment. Which, I believe, stems from selfishness.

We live in an age where our word, our commitments seem to mean less and less. We have this mentality that if things get tough, then we have the “right” to get out of it. We want things to be easy. We want them to be comfortable. We’re a bit selfish.

And I have to tell you that I struggle with this in my own life. Selfishness. It rears it’s ugly head in my parenting more often than I’d like to admit. Sometimes in my relationships. With my husband and with my friends…sometimes I’m selfish. My personal time. I’m often selfish with that.

But what the conversation with my daughter reminded me of is this: think sunrise. The morning. The new beginning. The fresh start. I can make the decision each day to stick with my commitments and to be less selfish.

1 Samuel chapter 2 says, “He rekindles burned out lives with fresh hope.”
His mercies are new every morning as Lamentations chapter 3 says.

 Psalm 32 says this,

Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
you get a fresh start,
your slate’s wiped clean.