Jealous- part 1

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6060/6300320487_429a58c535_m.jpg

In my opinion, Jane Austen is one of the greatest romance novelists of all time. She wrote nine books over her lifetime and her insight of human nature and emotion that can be seen throughout all of her works is unique. I was randomly pondering one of her books Sense and Sensibility today. In case you don't know the storyline of this book, it is basically about two sisters, Elinor and Marianne (there's a third sister named Margaret too, but she's not very important to the story). When their father dies, their family must move out of their grand home to live in a small house in the countryside. As they begin to adjust, they meet several people, including a quiet man called Colonel Brandon. Marianne, who is the dramatic, romantic type (a little like me) believes that Brandon is a very dull man because of his silent, sad nature, but yet Brandon still seems to take a liking to Marianne.

 One day, Marianne is walking with her little sister Margaret and it begins to storm. Marianne is running and she slips and hurts her ankle. A strange man sees them on the side of the road and he carries her home, since Margaret isn't strong enough to carry Marianne. The man introduces himself as Willoughby, and the instant attraction between him and Marianne is quite obvious. He continues to visit her as her ankle is healing, showing her beautiful music and romance books. They get extremely attached as they continue to read stories and play music together, and soon Marianne is head-over-heels in love with this man. After they have been spending time together for a few months, Willoughby and Marianne take their relationship to the point of no return; he cuts off a piece of her hair to keep. You don't think this is a big deal? Well, in the 1700s, if a man kept a piece of a woman's hair, this meant that they were engaged to be married. So basically, this was a huge step almost equivalent to kissing in those days. This seals the emotional attachment. All of the time, however, Colonel Brandon is watching this blooming relationship between Willoughby and Marianne and there is enormous tension between Brandon and Willoughby.

A picture of Marianne and Willoughby- from the BBC adaption of the book- my favorite adaption :)
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/06/07/article-2337371-02A49500000004B0-550_634x419.jpg

Suddenly, Willoughby decides to leave for London, leaving Marianne behind. This breaks her heart, and she instantly goes into a trance of lovesickness. Eventually, she gets the opportunity to go to London, and she eagerly travels there with Elinor, anxious to see her beloved Willoughby again. However, when she sees him, he ignores her completely and sends her letters telling her that he isn't interested. Marianne, being the drama queen that she is, goes on yet another walk all by herself in the rain as soon as she gets home from London and catches a fever. Colonel Brandon steps in and begins to care for her. He also speaks to Elinor, and tells her that in the past, he was a guardian over a young girl, and when the girl was only a teenager, Willoughby had gotten her pregnant, which is why Brandon dislikes Willoughby so much.

Marianne slowly recovers, and although she is heartbroken, Colonel Brandon's dedication and love towards her allows her to overcome it all. In the end, they get married. 

So what's the point of this soap opera-ish story from the 1700s? How in the WORLD does it relate to God? Well, I was pondering this, and I realized that Marianne is a little bit like each of us. She is caught up between two lovers, Colonel Brandon and Willoughby. Willoughby is sorta like sin, or anything that steals our hearts away from God and Colonel Brandon is like God, loving us so much and wanting the best for us. Throughout the relationship between Willoughby and Marianne, Brandon was always there, ready to help Marianne the moment things got out of hand. But, he also didn't force her to fall in love with him instead, even though it was obvious that he was the better choice. In the same way, God also gives us a choice; he doesn't force us to follow him, he allows us to choose to love him. And the moment we turn to him, he is willing and ready to heal us from our hurt and wipe away our tears.

Colonel Brandon and Marianne (also from the BBC movie)
http://s1213.photobucket.com/user/Alys_Key/media/colonelbrandoncarriesmarianne.jpg.html

But God is also jealous for us. Just as how it broke Brandon's heart to see Marianne's infatuation for Willoughby, God is heartbroken when he sees us falling for the temporary things of this world. He is constantly trying to win us back and desiring for us to realize our need for Him.