This weekend I was listening to my iPod on a general shuffle of all the songs, instead of just my Christian playlist. The song “I’ll Wait for You” by Bruce Springsteen came on. I love this song. It is such a wonderful picture of what the attitude of married couples should be.
The current divorce rate in the United States is 50% for first marriages, and even higher for second and third marriages. It seems people don’t really take “til death do us part” very seriously. If the relationship isn’t quite what they expected or their spouse isn’t in the same place as they are, the quick and easy answer is to get a divorce. It used to be that divorce was reserved for extreme circumstances, but any more it’s no big deal.
I’m not suggesting that divorce is never appropriate. There are certainly circumstances where a spouse should not be expected to continue in a relationship with an abusive, habitually cheating, or emotionally controlling spouse.
But for the bulk of marriages, taking on the attitude of this song, saying “I’ll wait for you. If I should fall behind, wait for me,” would lead to a lot more understanding and fewer divorces. I found this great video of Bruce and all the band members taking turns singing the parts of this song, plus an awesome saxophone solo by Clarence Clemons. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.