Wedding Day

Today my son gets married. He has been working toward this for years. He graduated from college in May and is marrying his fiance in June because they can't wait any longer. They long to be a married couple. So today we will witness the joining of two in holy matrimony.

My son and his bride are doing something that has been a longstanding tradition for longer than I can count. They are joining together as one in the sight of God and these witnesses. They are pledging "'til death do us part" with the actual intention of marriage 'til death. Their marriage means something different than so many other users of the term today. It is a joining for life, a promise before God, a commitment without exceptions.

I pray for my son and his bride. They are starting their family in difficult times. Marriage is in disarray, and their examples of real marriage are few and far between. They will be told, when times are tough, that marriage vows are meaningless and self is the only important person. They will be told that children are an option -- likely an unnecessary one. Put it off until you have enjoyed each other and established "a home" and then ... well, then you can consider the possibility ... maybe. In a world driven by the god of personal fulfillment, they will need to learn the skills of other fulfillment and placing self at the end of the line rather than the front. They will be told -- and it sounds as reasonable as it is wrong -- that marriage is a "50-50" proposition. It's not. Our current society, in fact, will militate against everything that makes for good, biblical marriage.

I pray, then, for my son and his bride. I pray that they will be a militant couple, fighting for God's perception of marriage rather than the one they will be fed daily by society. I pray that they will fight for each other, fight against themselves. I pray that they will love in the sense of choice rather than feeling and bask, later, in the feeling of love that follows. I pray that difficulties will arise (because difficulties always arise) and press them together rather than tear them apart. I pray that they will keep their priorities straight, starting first with their devotion to God, second to their spouse, and to themselves last. Marriage isn't easy on these terms ... but it is oh, so rewarding.

Congratulations, David and Becca.