regretting love

"A wife can revile such a man with every silent curse she knows. But she can't throw stones. A stone would fly straight through him and strike the child made in his image, clipping an eye or a tongue or an outstretched hand." - Barbara Kingsolver via The Poisonwood Bible


This collection of words made me reflect on how sad regretting love must be for two individuals who share a child or children. Regret is such a powerful emotion and to tie that to love, supposedly the most powerful positive emotion a human could possibly feel is extremely heartbreaking.

Coming across children who have been negatively affected by divorce and their parents' falling out of love, I have to wholeheartedly agree with Kingsolver. A child feels, hears, sees everything that occurs between their parents regardless of whether they are in the same room. Tension reverberates through walls and the things he or she or they see occur between their parents will stay with them for the rest of their lives and affect them and their relationships in unpredictable and, perhaps, damaging ways.

It is difficult to fall out of love especially when what was your love produced someone as beautiful and precious as your child. I can only pray that people who are in love, stay in love.

Stay patient and attempt understanding to the best of your ability. Most of all, keep loving. We can only hope that love really does conquer over anger and that it will, through time, heal even the worst regrets, memories, and pain.