This past Monday was the first in-person meeting I had with a client following the big pre-weekend storm. After 24-plus-hours without, electricity had been restored to my office here in Saline. And my home.

And my client’s home.

He and I have been working together for about 6 weeks now. On the path to divorce, still living in the marital home with his wife. This is one of those cases where I’m solely retained by one spouse; that’s sometimes the better way to manage a situation.

“We had a really good weekend,” he said in his characteristic look-on-the-brightside manner. “I guess we both kind’a slept later than usual on Saturday, owing to the power being off and nothing to wake us up from the clock radio. Kate went into the kitchen and when she opened the refrigerator door it gave off this really awful smell.

“We took everything out and had to throw a ton of stuff away.”

As his story continued to unfold, at no point did Mr. Brightside’s demeanor ever change. He saw none of this as anything but wonderful news.

Mr. and Mrs. Brightside married in 2002 after a 19-month courtship. They moved to their present home in Saline a year later. It was a new house. Moreover, every major accoutrement had been painstakingly selected from a reasonably broad menu provided by the builder.

Including the refrigerator.

Now here in my office just three days ago, Mr. Brightside brought me further up-to-date by mentioning that the aforesaid home appliance in question still held a container with artifacts of the very first meal he and his wife had once enjoyed in that home together. But the seal on its lid had long-since been compromised.

“So the storm was sort of like a gift from God,” he said without the slightest change of outlook. “Otherwise, those problems could’a festered forever.”

“Not exactly,” I said. One of the first, hard reality checks for his divorce assessment, then planning, was a recognition that neither spouse could afford to keep the house. Surely at some point, this marital neglect, too, would have to have come to an end. Bigger picture, was last Friday a “gift from God,” addressed for personal delivery to casa del Brightside? To be frank, I doubt it. Creator-cum-Maytag repairman? Not.

I see God evidencing a great deal of patience (far more than we deserve) before so seriously raining on parades. Think about all that went into prompting Our Lord’s call to Noah, then the flood. See Genesis 6:9 and following.

That said, I certainly do believe that He is in constant dialogue with us on large matters and small — if we’re open to hearing Him.

In sharing this Scriptural reference with my perhaps-just-a-little-too-optimistic client, I encouraged him to look for prompts short of severe thunderstorms to develop good culinary assessment routines. Think of the wonders this portends for marital refrigerators all around Michigan.

Some couples might even want to consider this approach for our marital relationships as well.

Dell Deaton is a Christian counselor specializing in divorce (and alternatives), available through independent professional practice since 1983. Contact on www.divorcepastor.com or on (734) 668-2001 in Saline.

Local volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America. Dad, remarried, three dogs. Internationally-recognized expert on Ian Fleming and James Bond watches.

Note: Names and other identifying details are always changed for Divorce Pastor columns to respect, protect privacy.