If Love Were Words...

When he woke up that day he knew, August was going to take another one. He knew that they were having their first fight and they'd probably not recover. He knew it as he zipped up his uniform and tied his shoes. There wasn't much sense in dwelling on it. When the storm comes, he'll meet it in the eye. At lunch he sat pushing his food around  the Styrofoam to-go container with his plastic fork. He hadn't intended to dwell on it but he knew it was coming, and if her mind was made, he wasn't going to unmake it. "How's work?" the message read on his phone. "It's alright. I'm sorry that things have been tense the past day or so" He replied. "We should talk"  she said. And there it was, holding on the horizon like a thousand mounted riders waiting for the command to charge. "I'll be outside in the upper parking deck in 20 minutes" he sent. "If the armies against hope should ride for the destruction of a chance, let them come soon and I will meet them in the open field." He thought to himself. It's bad enough that this is happening... but now its about to happen at work. She parked her truck in the upper deck and climbed out. He regretted what was about to take place and he lamented that he'd ever let himself be so vulnerable. "Alright," He said narrowing his eyes in the sun "Let's do this". When her mouth opened up excuses poured out, masquerading as legitimate truths. "God said..." he heard her say. He didn't so much think that God had really said what she was about to speak, but rather she was scared and she knew that Divine edict was too holy a truth to dispute. "... that what you believe isn't for me. That isn't to say that it's wrong because you can and have shown me in the scriptures where it's true... but if I were to accept that, then there are things in my life and how they relate to my family that I might have to change and I don't think God would have me do that" A wash of scriptures flooded his thoughts about truth, and the cost of Christ, about peace and swords, but he held his tongue. "I was praying and the spirt told me that we should break up" His mind spun through the text that talk about testing the spirits to see if they're of God, and using the scriptures. He thinks about pointing out her contradictions but it would just be a bigger fight and it wouldn't change the end result. "Say something" she begged. What could he say? Calling her a coward that runs from a real relationship may have felt better for a moment but it wasn't conducive to the character he strives for.  He could throw out something clever like , If love were words you'd be mute and I'd be deaf, but again that wouldn't do anything but agitate the situation. "Well," he started "If God told just you this, what can I say" He wished to hell he'd never taken her to the cemetery where the bones of his father lay, and he'd given just about anything to take back all the tears that he let go in front of her. Maybe it was God who had ended the relationship, but he knew it wasn't for the reasons spelled out. After all, it wasn't the first time a girl had told him that God said that they shouldn't see each other anymore. The last one had been that very month, eight years prior, nearly to the day.