I thought I might start this thread to tell you a story about Karma. If anyone else has any stories to share please feel free to post them. Somehow, I think it gives us a little satisfaction.
Last night I had dinner with a friend. I haven't known her very long. Believe it or not I met her through H. Her H and my H are friends through doing business together. After H left me he started socializing with this couple. They did not know me. On one of our reconciliation attempts H introduced me to them. Little did I know that he had also taken the OW around them prior to me meeting them. Once the wife of the friend met me she told her H that OW was no longer welcome at her house, that she chose me. It was then that the couple figured out the whole story of why he left. He had told them that we had "grown apart" and there was no one else. I have become friends with the wife.
As we were talking last night at dinner she told me her story. She was married before and her H also cheated on her. The woman that he cheated with was someone she knew, like many of our situations. After she discovered the affair she also learned from others this wasn't the first time he cheated on her. Once my friend made up her mind that the marriage wasn't going to work she talked to the OW. She told OW that she wished her luck because H would also cheat on her. The OW laughed in her face and said he wouldn't do that to her.
The H and OW married. About a year into the marriage he told his mother he regretted what he had done to his first marriage. Yes, you guessed it he cheated on his "new" wife several times also. He traveled out of town a lot and apparently had several women. They remained married for 9 years and divorced. He married for a third time and is now divorced again.
My friend on the other hand is now happily remarried. They own a successful business and have a very comfortable lifestyle. They own two homes. One where the business is and a lakehouse about a hour away.
Hope for all of us LBS...
Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. -- Bernice Johnson Reagon
H walks out of long term M for coworker (direct report). Does not want to work on M, wants to create new life around this plastic pinata.
Karma = D15 has not talked to him in 4 months. H is drained financially by the OW gold digger and now is having tough time making ends meet. H is demoted because of this A and drum roll please...... OW HAS CHEATED ON WH WITH OM2 (he doesn't know YET)
I hear the KARMA Bus rolling into town.
Me 53 H 50 D16, D29 M 22 years bomb 7/08 INH - alien pod replaces H 8/08 - OW (direct report), I work there also bomb II - H moves 10/1 expose ow 10/22 D to be final 9-09
These bad karma stories are very delicious and fun to read.
They make us feel better.
They re-enforce and establish the moral nature of the universe.
The righteous prosper and the wicked are punished.
Christians say, "What you sow, you shall reap."
Amen and Amen.
But.....
The Bible is full of Psalms of lament. These Psalms state, that in fact, often the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper.
The book of Job seems pretty harsh. Yes he gets it all back in the end, but he's been though seven deaths in the process.
And there's also the contrary message in the story...sometimes God is kind of screwy in doling out his grace.
God sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. He blesses all people, at times, indiscriminately.
Then there's that pesky thing called Grace. It upends karma. Grace offers forgives the wicked and blesses the undeserving. Jesus swallows the poison that we were supposed to drink. He died the death we owe.
Yes, there's still judgement. If any of you know me, I'm huge on judgement. I hate moral jellyfish. But ultimately God doles it out. Yes, in the end, there is ultimate, true justice. We don't always get to see it in this life. Read Psalm 73.
Sorry for preaching.
Hey I love seeing homewreckers and philanderers get their comeuppance. I love seeing the faithful, Left Behind Spouse flourish and prosper.
But, unfortunately not all our lives fit that script. I've seen LBS getting royally screwed over and WAS live seemingly happy lives.
Yes, Theo you are correct. I guess all in all, we need to pray for ourseleves and all that are involved in the upheaval of our marriages, which I do daily.
Speaking of the bible, let us not forget the punishment that David received because of his affair with Bathsheba. Talking about bad karma, that was the ultimate. I wouldn't wish that on anyone!
Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. -- Bernice Johnson Reagon
Grace She takes the blame She covers the shame Removes the stain It could be her name
Grace It's a name for a girl It's also a thought that changed the world And when she walks on the street You can hear the strings Grace finds goodness in everything
Grace, she's got the walk Not on a ramp or on chalk She's got the time to talk She travels outside of karma She travels outside of karma When she goes to work You can hear her strings Grace finds beauty in everything
Grace, she carries a world on her hips No champagne flute for her lips No twirls or skips between her fingertips She carries a pearl in perfect condition
What once was hurt What once was friction What left a mark No longer stings Because grace makes beauty Out of ugly things
Theo, I didn't take it that way at all. We all love Karma, but we have do have to remember to be the best that we can be, not always easy to do, but it is a good mantra to live by. It's still nice to hear that Karma does bite them in in the arse sometimes, we are human after all...
Life's challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they're supposed to help you discover who you are. -- Bernice Johnson Reagon
But, unfortunately not all our lives fit that script. I've seen LBS getting royally screwed over and WAS live seemingly happy lives.
Happy lives? True, but only their very short mortal lives -- lives that will all come to an end sooner or later. So why care how they prosper today even in spite of their wickedness? Or even that the righteous might suffer in this life regardless of their faith?
It is eternity and God's kingdom, in the afterlife, that we should be shooting for. Karma, per se, may not get the wicked in this life, but it will get them in the here-after.
OK, you guys, I happen to get completely turned off by fire and brimstone. But back to the poem. That stanza that Theo picked out and described as narcissistic is, just as he says, very self-indulgent. And I can see where it would warm the cockles of the cheating heart. After all, it says being true to yourself is paramount and while others may call you a betrayer, that doesn't make you a betrayer. But the rest of the poem speaks to being a dedicated person, particularly the reference to sacrificing for the children.
I think the self-indulgent stanza is out of place in the poem. It contradicts the remainder of the poem. It is the wolf in sheep's clothing of the poem.
