{"id":3606,"date":"2012-02-14T02:21:22","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T02:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/?p=3606"},"modified":"2012-02-14T02:44:24","modified_gmt":"2012-02-14T02:44:24","slug":"the-hope-of-adele","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/2012\/02\/14\/the-hope-of-adele\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hope of Adele"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ObMBCqsyA2E<\/a>\n<\/p>

I was in a public place recently and heard an older gentleman tell a joke about a 30-something woman who was despairing over not being married.<\/p>\n

Such jokes don\u2019t amuse me \u2014 it doesn\u2019t matter if the women are portrayed as single, pregnant, want-to-be pregnant, divorced, blonde, anorexic, fat, or grannies \u2014 especially when it\u2019s men who are doing the telling. I\u2019m even less amused when the men doing the telling are standing behind a pulpit, as this particular gentleman was.<\/p>\n

If you are that single person who longs for the companionship of a soul-mate that you hope & pray God has for you, such jokes are hurtful. \u00a0I know so many people \u2014 both men and women \u2014 who have yet to experience the kind of delight and intimacy that comes with a love that lasts through the decades.<\/p>\n

I could spend a lot of time and energy debating why it is men in the pulpits rarely deliver these sorts of jokes about 30-year-old men who are single, but it would be a waste. Nobody is going to get up in a pulpit and poke fun at men who aren\u2019t married. (First and foremost because the church is still so homophobic.)\u00a0Within the church, it seems, men are still expected to deny a broken heart, whereas, women are expected to confess it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not so old, or so long married, that I don\u2019t remember what a broken heart feels like. I\u2019ve watched one of my children deal with a broken engagement and I\u2019ve sat up late at night with more than one child who has struggled with the overwhelming rejection of a love denied.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s never easy to give up the dream you have for the one you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

I was thinking about all this while watching the Grammys. In an interview with 60 Minutes Anderson Cooper, British singer Adele told Cooper that it was heartbreak that has led to the greatest moments of her life. She wrote Rolling in the Deep out of anger and frustration<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote it very selfishly to get over a break-up,\u201d the 23-year-old Adele told Cooper.<\/p>\n

Rolling in the Deep <\/em>was the top single of 2011. \u00a0Her album has sold 18 million copies.<\/p>\n

Adele says she\u2019s surprised at how many people relate to her, given that Rolling in the Deep<\/em> is really just a love song.<\/p>\n

A love song about the love that didn\u2019t last.<\/p>\n

We could have had it all<\/em>
\n(You\u2019re gonna wish you never had met me)<\/em>
\nRolling in the deep<\/em>
\n(Tears are gonna fall, rolling in the deep)<\/em>
\nYou had my heart inside of your hand<\/em>
\n(You\u2019re gonna wish you never had met me)<\/em>\u00a0\n

But you played it<\/em>
\nYou played it<\/em>
\nYou played it<\/em>
\nYou played it to the beat.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Adele says that she wrote the songs to console herself. To remind herself that one day she would find someone better, someone who would make her happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>In essence, Adele was writing her way out of despair into a place of hope.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Throw your soul through every open door<\/em>
\nCount your blessings to find what you look for<\/em>
\nTurn my sorrow into treasured gold<\/em><\/div>\n
\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

God can take our greatest sorrows and disappointments and transform them into treasured gold.<\/p>\n

God is in the business of creating anew, broken dreams and broken hearts.<\/p>\n

In the novel The Healing, author Jonathon Odell puts it this way: \u201cIn the beginning God created. That\u2019s all anybody needs to know about God.\u201d<\/p>\n

On St. Valentine\u2019s Day and throughout the year, instead of making our brokenhearted sisters and brothers the brunt of old maid or homophobic jokes, shouldn\u2019t we be doing what Adele has done and offer them words of hope?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was in a public place recently and heard an older gentleman tell a joke about a 30-something woman who was despairing over not being married. Such jokes don\u2019t amuse me \u2014 it doesn\u2019t matter if the women are portrayed as single, pregnant, want-to-be pregnant, divorced, blonde, anorexic, fat, or grannies \u2014 especially when it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8,2603,2305,2605,431,2608,681,2612,766,2615,1279,2609,2611,2606,2607,2602,2614,2604,2610],"class_list":["post-3606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-60-minutes","tag-adele","tag-anderson-cooper","tag-broken-engagements","tag-despair","tag-engagements","tag-grammys","tag-homophobic","tag-hope","tag-jonathon-odell","tag-pastors","tag-pulpits","tag-rolling-in-the-deep","tag-single-men","tag-single-women","tag-st-valentines-day","tag-the-healing","tag-unrequited-love","tag-valentines-day"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Hope of Adele<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was in a public place recently and heard an older gentleman tell a joke about a 30-something woman who was despairing over not being married. 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