Conjoined Bubbles: an analogy for marriage

Recently, a young and respected blogger, whom I enjoy visiting to read her soulish-words, got me thinking about bubbles. After meandering through a mind-field of bubblology I ended up considering just two bubbles touching one another. Eventually I turned to the idea of how (two) conjoined bubbles works as an analogy of a marriage in balance.

Firstly, conjoined bubbles do not destroy each other, rather they are bound together in a mutually supportive manner that requires each to adjust their form to accommodate the other’s presence. In this manner they do not press negatively but they do concede their right to territory that would normally be their own.

Secondly, they reflect the Biblical idea of two becoming "one flesh", insomuch that they function as one entity but their individuality is readily identified. It shows how it is reasonable and desirable to participate in a union that respects the others identity. The bonding face is not two-faces butted together, and just touching, but rather one face that is shared intimately and concurrently.

Thirdly, the form of the bonding face of conjoined bubbles is defined and controlled by physical laws. A marriage doesn’t work unless the rules of 'bubble geometry' apply and that geometry requires a mutually edifying relationship.

Some think that Christian marriage is only about a wife submitting herself to her husband. Well, yes, that is there but it is there concurrent with the requirement that a husband submit himself to his wife “as Christ did for the church”. And what Christ did was to give up his life for the Church, his “Bride”, so that it may live.

What we see in all this is that the joining face between two bubbles is one of a mutually respectful and supportive submission to the other, in unity, so that the whole may exist in harmony. A good marriage requires no less.