Irreplaceable

While working in a construction company, I noticed the high turnover rate in this field. The boss would hire different workers, then dismiss them and look for others. And some workers found something else and left on their own, shifting their duties onto the shoulders of those who remained. For some reason, I was not going to be dismissed, but was entrusted with the most responsible work, which I myself had to organize and perform.

Sometimes it was very sad to part with those I had known for a long time, but others would come in their place and do the work no worse than the rest. And if one of the older workers lifted his nose too high, the boss immediately noticed this and skillfully brought them back down, making it clear that, for him, there were no irreplaceable people.

Watching all this, I understood that one day my turn would come, and I would be replaced by a more skillful or younger worker. And there was no time to think about where to go next. Such a spirit creates in the mind an illusion of uselessness and worthlessness. I know people who fell into depression after being dismissed early and suffered greatly from it.

Uselessness is probably the worst state of the soul in any society or community. When you feel like an object that can quickly be thrown out onto the street or replaced with another, it becomes very difficult to build personal happiness in such an atmosphere.

I know people who build their “family unions” on such shaky ground, choosing and trying what they think might suit them, and easily discarding from their lives those they did not like or who turned out to be worse than someone else. And just to be sure not to make a mistake and to keep a way of retreat, such people do not plan to register their next unions, so that they can always quickly get rid of a person who may fall out of favor.

When creating our family, my wife and I understood that this union was for life, and we did not plan, even in the most distant future, to divorce and look for someone else. But the question of our need for each other was not immediately revealed to us.

At first, after the wedding, we behaved like close friends, getting used to the new status and enjoying the new advantages of family life. And this made us even closer and dearer. And when we parted briefly for some reason, I began to notice that I was already missing something, and how good it would be if my beloved were somewhere nearby. The phone partially helped to satisfy this attachment, but the personal presence of a dear person cannot be replaced by anything else.

And my wife did not even try to hide her attachment to me and was also very happy when we were together or somewhere near each other, even if each was busy with their own work.

Reflecting on the turnover of staff at my work, I tried to imagine what it would look like in our family, and whether someone could replace me in it. With these foolish thoughts I turned to my wife, which frightened her very much. She for some reason thought that I wanted to leave her and began to overwhelm me with all sorts of questions, trying to find out whom I had found. I had to calm her for a very long time and convince her that she was my best, my only, and irreplaceable one.

And while we were thus sorting out our relationship, a simple truth dawned on me—that in our family we are the most necessary and irreplaceable people for each other on earth. I don’t need anyone else, even a thousand times better and purer. I need only the one whom I chose for myself forever. And only by her side do I have that special blessing with which God fills our hearts in our love for each other. Although among our friends there are many brothers and sisters with whom we are close and whom we truly love, in union with my wife we represent a special world. And no one is admitted into this world except our Lord.

About the same thing my wife shared with me when she understood that I simply had foolish questions. She told me so many interesting things about her love for me and about how dear and irreplaceable a man I was to her, that I am even embarrassed to recount all this to you, friends, so that you don’t think I am boasting about myself.

We also have those moments in life when we want to be alone and rest from everything and everyone, or to be alone with God to discuss numerous tasks and questions, but this is in no way connected with our family. It is simply the human factor that longs for a reboot of thought. In such moments of life we leave each other in peace, knowing that this is a temporary necessity that needs to be lived through. And then we reunite again to always be together.

It is so wonderful to understand that in this world there is a special place where we are irreplaceable and where we belong, always needed.

There are companies that build their business on the abilities of one or several people and are ready to pay them any money, as long as these employees work for them. And when they leave or fall ill, then everything collapses. Such need is pleasant for the specialist, and it can even go to his head, and he imagines himself to be something great. However, such an attitude is based on success and prosperity, which are very conditional and can disappear at any moment.

But our family builds its need for each other on the basis of the deep principle of being so always, regardless of the prospect of flourishing or withering. It is not so important to us what our income is and what economic benefit we can receive from each other. Such things are not measured in sums or kilograms. We have each other. And this is the essence of our union.

And the more and closer we get to know each other, the dearer and more needed we become in our own eyes. My wife is a miracle to which it is impossible to grow accustomed. I am always amazed at this gift from the Lord. She was conceived just like this by the Creator Himself, embodied in reality, and given to me forever, to always be the most needed and irreplaceable person in my life. This place in my heart can never be occupied by anyone else. No person can fully correspond to the one to whom I once said, “Yes.” And this is not something I invented, but the Lord, who made us irreplaceable for each other and blesses us in our need with Himself in the form of mutual agape love.

Whatever periods of life we go through in our family, we always remember that we are irreplaceable for each other, and in addition we have an agreement to love each other no matter what.

If you ask any person who the closest and irreplaceable people are for them, everyone will say—their parents. And it is difficult when they are not together. And this is true. And why did parents become so close? Because they once decided to become one whole, called “family.”

We are irreplaceable for our relatives, and they for us. And this is normal. But the enemy of the soul offers us emptiness instead of one another, in order to tear apart, destroy, and ruin us in suffering. But we will love each other and value one another, because in this is God’s will for us.

Every one of my friends has a similar status of an irreplaceable person, because each one is unique in all their features. He is the only one of his kind. Therefore, these people also become very needed and irreplaceable in Christ.

1. Please read Isa. 43:4; 1 Sam. 20:17; Jer. 3:1; 31:3, 20; 1 Cor. 12–27; Prov. 12:10; 14:1; 17:17 in the light of this lesson.

2. What did you understand from this topic?

3. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind?

4. In what spheres of life are we irreplaceable?

5. Where is it good to be irreplaceable, and where can this become a problem?

6. How will a worker feel if he is made to understand that he is irreplaceable, and without him the company’s affairs will collapse?

7. How can I understand whether I am an irreplaceable person in my family?

8. Do you have irreplaceable people in your life?

9. For how long does the Lord unite our lives and destinies?

10. Is it important to understand the fact that if someone considers me a thing, I need to know that I am unique and one of a kind?

11. Do you like to be in the company of those people who consider you irreplaceable?

12. Did this lesson help you understand something very important?

13. What should I do if I feel lonely and unnecessary?

14. Can I by my decision make my friends irreplaceable?

15. Who are we for God? How does He see us?