In this post, Bill explained the pleasure a man takes in his lover's voice by, "A woman uses a different voice when she loves you, a voice that ends up hitting the same spot in our soul as the loving and reassuring voice of our mother's back when we were infants." This reminded me about the lullaby Hush Little Baby, and what I wrote about it a few years ago. It's my favorite lullaby, so I hope that you'll forgive me if I quote it here in full:
Hush Little Baby, Don't say a word.
Momma's gonna buy you a mocking bird.And if that mocking bird don't sing,
Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring.And if that diamond ring turns brass,
Momma's gonna buy you a looking glass.And if that looking glass should break,
Momma's gonna bake you a birthday cake.And if that birthday cake's too tart,
Momma's gonna buy you a horse and cart.And if that horse and cart don't go,
Momma's gonna buy you a boat to row.And if that rowing boat don't float,
Momma's gonna buy you a billy goat.Hush little baby don't say a word,
Momma's gonna buy you a mocking bird.
Mothers want to keep their children safe, but they can't; in the end all hope for anything from man must be in vain in this life, for as Jesus observed, we can't even turn one hair on our head white or black. We are weak creatures who will die. That makes God the only safe bet.
But more importantly, man can't find salvation from man. Ultimately we want to know not that we're wanted by men or women, but that we're wanted by God. We look for it in each other, but even if we find someone weak enough that we find it in their love for us, we eventually learn that it's an illusion. We thought we saw God, but it was just a person we mistook for God because we were looking through a glass, darkly. (Incidentally, I say week enough that we find it because strong people, however much they care, will never offer that sort of affirmation because they know, however instinctively, that it isn't theirs to give.)
Human beings can be many things to each other. Truly it is not good for man to be alone. But the real ache of our hearts is for God, not man. Unfortunately, for whatever reason filling that ache will not happen in this life. We can only soothe it, we can't heal it. We can't eliminate that fear we have of death, because death will come for us. But the good news that the Apostles started spreading 2000 years ago is that death is frightful, but it isn't final. We might almost put it that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and he saw that they were good. That is, he decided that it was worth it. The good news is that despite all that's happened between then and now, he's never changed his mind.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life; that's more than any man or woman can offer. Yet Christianity is a very ironic religion; one might almost say that it is a humorous religion: God's offer is what makes what men and women can give each other worthwhile. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly.
(That being said, men and women don't marry in heaven but are like the angels; so one should not take even Christian marriage too seriously.)