Why Do We Keep “Shipping” Jen and Brad?

There is one particular photo from last night’s 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards which was splashed across many news outlets this morning. It’s a moment captured backstage after Jennifer Anniston accepted the SAG Award for Female Actor in a Drama Series, and Brad Pitt won for Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture. He is speaking with her with what looks like a *special* sparkle in his eye... These two were once married, and the press tells us they are spending more time together. Surely, this MUST mean they are still madly in love and will soon reunite in wedded bliss. Right?

I have no idea. We don’t have the full story, but it does make for an eye-catching headline. Why is it we keep “shipping” these two people?

We pull for the underdog; we fight for the vulnerable; we empathize with losers. We like to see happy endings. Come on, go ahead and admit that your eyes water a little when The Dodo shares videos of pets reuniting with their humans!

But what we really want is so much more than a happy ending. We long to see restoration in others’ lives. We desperately want it in our own. Every scrap of bitterness we carry in our hearts about people or situations become hardened when restoration – forgiveness – doesn’t happen. Our human relationships may never be fully restored, but our relationship with God CAN be. We can have a happy ending, even if it’s not a Hollywood fairytale.

God wants restoration with us. He welcomes us home without question or condemnation (read the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32).

What can you do? Pray for your relationship with God. And keep cheering on Jen and Brad – maybe say a prayer for them too.