Jemima, Santhus and Paul sat in a café sipping drinks to calm their nerves after experiencing a “holocaust” after which her best friend – Abigail, hurriedly exited. Jemima kept pondering and asserting that this was a horrible dream from which she would soon wake up. To think that she and Santhus had been on the brink of a divorce. Thank God for the intervention of Paul. She finally found her voice and expressed herself…” Wow, this world is wicked!” she exclaimed.

Jemima and Abigail had been friends from high school and throughout the university. Soon after school, Abigail had been involved in a whirlwind marriage which had resulted in a much-contested divorce. After that, the relationship had grown even closer, and Jemima felt free to discuss everything in her life with her friend.

In recent times, Jemima’s marriage to Santhus was going through turbulent times. After five years of marital bliss, she could not wrap her head around what was happening. Trust had taken a walk out of the door; communication had taken a back seat and was limited to monosyllables. They lacked the grace to listen to each other, talk less of praying together. They kept a façade for the outside world by attending events together, but they both knew the marriage was on the brink of collapse. However, in the innermost recess of Jemima’s heart, she still loved Santhus and desired that the marriage be resuscitated. Santhus also felt the same and had confessed to his closest pal-Paul, that he loved Jemima but could not understand what was happening to them.

After lots of digging, Paul realised that the root cause of his friend’s problem was Jemima’s trusted friend, Abigail. Both Jemima and Santhus had placed their trust in Abigail and made her their confidant. Unfortunately, Abigail had belied the trust reposed in her and manipulated their relationship. Paul then invited the couple over for dinner to talk things over and asked them to listen to the lyrics of a 1963 song by Jim Reeves and Dottie West – “Look Who’s Talking.” As the words rang out, they were not lost on Jemima and Santhus “The ones we thought were our best friends were our worst enemies…eyes that search where there is something wrong were welcome to our home…two broken hearts that lies destroyed.” As if on cue, both Jemima and Santhus exclaimed “Abigail!” Suddenly, it dawned on Jemima that she had believed everything Abigail had told her about Santhus without questioning motive or rationale. She had painted it as the duty of a “loyal friend” to inform Jemima of the contrived misdemeanors of Santhus. He was portrayed as an unrelenting Casanova while feeding Santhus with lies about Jemima. Jemima trusted Abigail implicitly and was grateful to her for revealing the true Santhus to her. Little did she know…

It took the discerning mind of Paul to align the accusations and counter-accusations, tracing them all to a common source – Abigail. Paul then suggested that Jemima invite Abigail to their favorite rendez- vous, a café close to her house. On that fateful day, as they were discussing the proposed divorce, in walked Santhus and Paul to join their table, to Abigail’s discomfiture. Abigail involuntarily reached for her bag and hurriedly excused herself to use the restroom but not before Paul blurted out, “The cat is out of the bag Abigail, why did you do it?’

Abigail broke down in tears and confessed that she had always envied her best friend – Jemima. When she got married, she thought she had gained an edge over her but when her marriage collapsed, she could not understand why Jemima’s should thrive. With ample time on her hands, she contrived the mischief to put them at par. She broke down and wept bitterly and after offering her feeble apology, she hurriedly left the scene.

Thank God, Paul was able to save this marriage, but some key lessons learned are:

1. The institution of marriage can be fragile but the only third party allowed in it is GOD.
2. Communication is the oil that keeps the marriage running smoothly and should never be allowed to break down.
3. Praying together is important and the fire of the family altar should never be allowed to fizzle out.

May the Lord keep us away from unfriendly friends and give us discerning spirits for our relationships.

Love

Havilah