The Catbird Seat

At work last night, a coworker and I were talking about the significance of marriage.

Both she and I agreed that the difficulty and joy of marriage goes way beyond just the little eccentricities that you discover when you live together; and that living together (as she and her now-husband had) is still really no preparation for actual marriage.

The conversation began when a customer made a really inappropriate comment to her as she rung up his prescription at the register.

I’ll spare you the rude specifics of his comment, but the gist is this: he implied that, judging by the size of her engagement ring diamond and diamond-studded wedding band, my coworker’s husband must have really wanted sex from her.

Appalling.

And not just because he made this comment in public, to a stranger, but also because it really shows just how much (or should I say, how little) he values women.

It was at that point that my tech told this great Ancient Chinese story:

There once was a wealthy prince who fell in love with a simple peasant girl. She was unremarkable in her beauty, but he loved her greatly and vowed to marry her. As was the custom, the prince was prepared to give cows to the girl’s father as a sort of dowry for their marriage.

‘But how many?’ the prince pondered to himself. Any common girl would warrant 3 cows, while a rare beauty or a girl from an important or wealthy family would be worth a 4-cow dowry. The local peasants and merchants waited eagerly for the announcement, wondering what the wealthy prince would “pay” for his simple bride.

And then the news came: 15 COWS!

The prince married his peasant girl, and for many months he and his “purchase price” were the butt of many jokes among the people of the community. “15 cows! For HER! Ridiculous!” Both the prince and his new bride were unfazed by the talk. They reveled in their love for one another.

The prince’s wife, in fact, flourished during that time, becoming a woman of amazing beauty and grace beyond compare.

The prince soon became, again, the talk of the town. He was praised for having the wisdom and insight for recognizing his love as a diamond in the rough. The prince wasn’t at all surprised at the burgeoning of his bride.

For he knew, that had he given 3 or 4 cows for her, she would only be as valuable and lovely as 3 or 4 cows.

But because he had given 15 cows to demonstrate his love for her, she would rise to the value and loveliness that only 15 cows could repay.

My tech remarked that she loves this story because it reminds her that we will only be as beautiful or good (or whatever) as the extent that we know we are valued.

And I thought, “I’m 15-cow valuable to God!”

But my next thought was (and is), “Imagine how much more valuable an only son is than 15 cows!”

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life!

Now THAT’s love!

Filed under: General, Catbird, Like a fire, Random Thoughts, Workin' Mom on July 25th, 2007