Last week, I had the fortunate opportunity to learn all about the timber industry, from the tree farms to the mills to the products we depend on daily. I got to visit a working plywood mill. It was fascinating! Not once in all my life did I ever realize they take a tree, lie it on its side, and unroll that thing (using a massive blade by the way) like a roll of toilet paper!!! They are able to transform that single tree into one solid roll of thin wood veneer! Then they cut sheets off from the roll and begin drying them out to apply industrial adhesive. Then they stack layer upon layer of veneer and adhesive to a standard thickness to make what we call “plywood.” Some’s first thought might wonder why go to all this trouble? “Isn’t a solid board enough?” However, testing and research proves a laminated beam (layered board) is 7-9 times stronger than a solid wood board!!!! So get what I’m saying here: The process is separating veneer from the tree with the purpose to bind it to more veneer using adhesive strictly to make a stronger product…👀

Now I’m thinking about God’s word saying:

Ephesians 5:31 (NIV)
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

So I picture the tree would be the parents. The veneer layers are the husband and wife. I also picture the adhesive as the covenant made between husband and wife. Marriage is the plywood that is so much stronger than the wood alone!

But here’s the kicker. I’ve seen a lot of demolition in my time of house remodeling. Have you ever seen someone try to separate a sheet of plywood? No matter how young or old…no matter what it’s used for, once plywood is made into a solid product it can’t be separated without destroying all the pieces. It shreds and splinters. It chips and peels, but it will never be just a solid piece of veneer again.

That’s what divorce does to the covenant marriage. It destroys all pieces. That’s why it is so painful. No matter what, those two people will never be the same. That’s why God’s intention was for a lifetime.

Matthew 19:6 (NIV)
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

I thought it was a really great representation of what we experience in marriage, separation, and divorce…and why we must stand so strongly for our marriages to be restored!

God bless,

Jennifer