The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

After going to an amazing church last night I decided to post an essay I wrote years ago that had to describe the story of the Bible in 800 words. I went a little different and decided to write a story. Here it is, enjoy (and feel free to share if you like it):

In the beginning was a man and he decided to create the perfect woman whom he would love.  For a time they lived in blissful harmony in the house the man created for them.  But the woman wanted something more and thought that by leaving the man she would experience life in its full, not realising that he had already given it to her.

The man wept as she left and watched with pain as she took other lovers and made a fool out of him.  He would call to her from his window, pledging his undying love to her, and sometimes she would return and ask to be forgiven for her behaviour.  The man was hurt but because of his great love for her, he would forgive her every time and would renew their relationship.

Despite this love she continued to run away time and time again, taking new lovers and looking for fulfilment in her life away from the man.  She found instead only hurt and enslavement by her lovers.  At these times, the man would seek her out and free her from her slavery.  He led her to a new home and taught her how she could be loyal to him.  At times she sat at his feet, sang him love songs and learnt from his wisdom as he spoke words of love to her.

Her loyalty did not last.  She was soon distracted by new lovers at her door and ran to them.  After a time her behaviour became destructive to herself and to their relationship and the man was heartbroken.  He sent his friends to her house to explain to her the hurt she was causing and to beg her to return.  She refused his friends repeatedly and so the man sent messengers to tell her that, because of her behaviour, he would not see her for a time and without his protection she was open to danger.

She ignored many of the messages and continued in her lifestyle until one fateful night when a strong man broke into her house and stole her away.  While living in captivity she realised how much the man had loved her and how great her mistakes had been.  The man knew she had been taken captive and, heartbroken but still in love, he convinced the strong man to release her and send her back home.   After she had returned home she ran around to the man’s door to thank him, but he would not answer to her knocking.  Confused by his behaviour, she decided that if she lived well and proved that she had changed, he would return to her.  So she became very strict with herself, deny many pleasures from her life, but all the time lovers slipped in and out her back door.

One night the man came and slipped through her open door unnoticed.  After a few days she realised he was there but did not recognise him, it had been so long since she had last seen him that she was expecting someone quite different.  He began to wash her feet and heal the wounds that her and her lovers had inflicted on her body and whispered words of love to her that she did not understand.  She did not understand who he was and was confused and angered by his displays of love and so, in a fit of rage, killed him.

Three days later a miracle occurred, the man came back to life!  When she saw him she was shocked and overcome with joy, disbelieving at first but soon understanding that his love was so great that not even death would separate them.  He told her that she was forgiven but that for awhile he must leave for a time and he did not know when he would be able to return.  He told her that he would not be far away and that she would feel him there, and one day he would return, heal her completely and they would be together in perfect unity.  In the mean time, she was to keep hope and to tell others about their great love story so that others may learn from this love. 

For the first days after his departure she was distraught and locked herself in her room and wept.  One day as she crying, she was filled with a feeling of love so strong that she ran out of her house and down the street laughing and dancing and telling everyone she met about the love and forgiveness of a man whom she did not deserve.  She knew she wasn’t perfect and knew that she might get distracted by life, but she vowed to remain faithful, totally devoted to him and no one else until he returned.  He had, and would continue, to forgive her and love her.

She did not know when the day would be when he would walk through her door again but she lived with a hope and was comforted in the knowledge that one day, when she least expected it, her perfect man would return and, with the strength of his love and grace, would remake her into the perfect woman and they would be together for eternity.