My Cousin’s Wedding
Posted by pastorpic on January 11, 2009
Yesterday I got the opportunity to see a bunch of the Picconatto extended family again – I had a cousin who got married. It was a beautiful ceremony, beautiful reception – only bummer was we had to cut out a little early. Elissa and I danced one dance together and then off we went. We got a little turned around getting back to Elissa’s parents (who were watching the kids), then it took us awhile to get everything loaded up – so we weren’t on our way out of the cities until 9:45 pm. Since I try to go to bed by 10:30 on Sunday nights, this morning is going to be a bit of a challenge!
The priest said something interesting to Emily and Eric during his homily that I found pretty interesting. He warned them that what they were about to do was a very dangerous thing – they were about to commit their lives to another person for the rest of their lives. He warned them that doing such a thing was a dangerous thing.
It made me think – those wedding vows, they are a pretty impressive thing, aren’t they? I mean – you’re literally committing your whole life to another person’s life as long as you both shall live.
There’s a guy in our church who’s modeling that right now. His wife has advanced Alzheimer’s disease, and he continues to gently care for her. Dressing her each day, taking her on walks when possible, bringing her to church and to family functions. He’s a beautiful model of “in sickness and in health.” It’s certainly not what he would have planned for over 5 decades ago when he asked his wife to marry him, but it’s what he committed to – and he’s faithful to his commitment.
It’s kind of surprising to me how often we try to talk to people about the good sides of things without warning them of the potential for pain. IN wedding vows, there is that warning – it’s a vow for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health. There’s the hope for the good, but commitment no matter what!
I wonder why we don’t do that for other things. We want life with a warranty, don’t we? Even in our faith, we want all blessings, no pain. We want all success, no heartache. We want all joy, no sorrow. Certainly – that’s a great thing to look forward to. We know that in heaven we’ll have no more tears, no pain, no sickness, no death – but in the meantime… Why do we so often ignore the clear teachings of scripture that faith comes with trials, persecutions, and struggles.
I think that it’s because we’re scared that people might not think it’s worth it. Maybe subtly they think that no one will take faith if it doesn’t get rid of all the problems of life.
But that’s like saying you don’t want to get married unless the person is only going to be rich or healthy. The relationship is worth the suffering that comes with it. The joy of knowing the presence of your spouse is worth the potential heartache. In a relationship with Christ – it’s even greater! The joy of knowing and being known by God and the joy of knowing that your Savior is with you and has your maturity and best interests in mind makes the inevitable difficulties of life worth going through.
Anyway – I’m sleep deprived and need to finish preparing myself for the morning ahead.
