When she wept at the altar

What won’t kill you

She had just arrived at the altar in her white gown. Her groom was looking in her eyes, lovingly, and she was basking in the glory of the moment. The man she had dreamed of marrying was now about to become her husband.

The priest was eager to begin, perhaps because the lovely couple in front of him seemed like a match made in the very heaven he hoped to inhabit one day. And so he began to recite the words as he had done hundreds of times before.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…”

Just then, there was a loud bang as the church doors flew open. A man burst into the church waving a handful of papers. “Stop this wedding!” The priest closed his Bible and stepped in front of the couple who were reeling in shock. The bride struggled to free the train of her dress which was now being stepped on by the audacious intruder who was extending the papers to the priest.

“What’s the meaning of this?” demanded the priest. He elbowed his way past the bride and groom and snatched the papers out of the man’s hand.

She turned to look at her groom. He was sitting on the steps of the altar, clutching his head in his hand. It is then that she knew it was all over.

I’ve read a similar story in one of my favourite books, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. I have put myself in the subject’s shoes every time I have read the book. Each time, I have been in a different stage of life, the most recent as a woman who once walked down a similar aisle.

When I hear of infidelity or deceit by either a woman or man in a relationship, I always think of the person who has been lied to and who learns the truth quite suddenly. I imagine that time stops for them and the moments that follow can only be spent in three ways. Numb shock, acceptance or denial.

Dear reader, there will be many disappointments in life. What matters is how you react to them. Whatever you do, don’t let them break you beyond repair.