From the Archives: June 18, 2000
There are enough wedding bells ringing in my ears right now to drown out a Joanna concert! Not that I’m complaining, I love a nice wedding, but after three weddings in three weeks, a respite will be appreciated.
One of the things I really should do is keep a journal of wedding glitches. They are inevitable. For example, last week, the groom and I entered the sanctuary AFTER two bridesmaids were already down the aisle! Yikes! I must have missed some significant cue! But the irony is that nobody noticed! Shouldn’t someone have missed the groom? Not me, but the groom. And then after the wedding, I stood there for what seemed an eternity…and nobody ever came to escort the parents out of the sanctuary! Ever. Oh well. So, we punted.
Brides can spend years planning for this glorious day, and yet something always goes wrong. We nurture huge expectations that often fall short of reality. Hmm…much like marriage itself. The first year of marriage can be difficult with all the lifestyle adjustments and unmet expectations.
After five, 10, or 20 years of marriage, we realize that our marriage may have a glitch or two. But instead of pointing fingers, perhaps you could yourself ponder a little deeper question. Is your glitch God’s way of working on your own personal holiness? Is God perhaps more concerned with you and your walk with Him, than a glitch-free marriage or even your own personal happiness? Did you ever look at it that way?
God’s goodness, love, power, strength, and glory do not change when your situation seems bleak and empty. He is still there, and He still satisfies. What is the deepest hunger of your heart today? Deeper than some ideal of marriage, He wants you to yearn for Christ! If your hunger is for Him, your marriage will bring opportunities for mutual growth in the Lord. The growth may come during trial. Often, it comes through a trial. But if God can use the glitches of your life and experience to make you and your spouse look more like Christ, then He has fulfilled His work in you… and His promises!
Rise up in the morning, no matter what your marriage is like today, and say, “I am so full of joy. I am a child of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is in my life. I will follow God by faith.” Beyond what God wants to accomplish in your marriage, He wants to accomplish something in your own life. And that often comes first.
Have you ever gotten the big picture? Next time you go to a wedding, thank God for marriage. But thank Him even more for what He is or has accomplished in you through your own marriage. Begin to think a little differently about all those marital “glitches” and begin with, “thank you, Jesus.”