Saturday Afternoon Wedding

I just returned from assisting Jodi, our daughter, in a wedding. She has been coordinating weddings at their church and since the lady who usually helps was not able to be there, Jodi asked me if I would like to come and help. It was such a delight to see my daughter as a “grown up” who was telling people when to enter, when to exit, where to stand, where to go after the wedding and it allowed me to see just a little more of her as someone other than my daughter. We sat over to the side during the ceremony and she was telling me what we would do between the ceremony and the reception, but all I could do was stare over at the beautiful wedding cake. It also brought tears to my eyes thinking back to when Randy and I married and how we are planning on renewing our vows next year. I sat there and began to think of what I would like to say to him, and I started to tear up, just thinking of how different we are now than we were 15 years ago. We thought we loved each other then, but because “life happens” and memories, tears, laughter, pain, sorrow and joy weave throughout the years, the love that we have now, is so much deeper than I had ever imagined. Maybe it is our age, but lately, even just sitting with him at night watching American Idol, or making a sandwich together in the kitchen, him asking how he can help or both of us outside mowing and sweeping, I have had feelings that I have just never experienced. It is just amazing to look over at someone that you wake up to every morning and still be overwhelmed at the love that you feel for the tenderness, the selflessness, the protection that he shows me. I wonder how long it will be before the couple we saw united in marriage today will truly feel that deep abiding love that has been showing up between Randy and I lately. When does it happen, did we just wake up one morning and poof, there were those feelings? Or do they gradually sneak up with each passing memory, circumstance and new season? Regardless, it made me cry today, thinking of what I wish I could convey to my husband, but words just never seem to portray what is in my heart. Maybe that is why we get kinder and more tender as we age, because the love we have and feel, cannot be expressed in words, we just have to put them into action…….I guess God knew what He was saying when He told us that, “faith, without works, is dead” It is the works, the little acts of kindness that show our spouses that we do have faith in the love that is being felt and growing, day by day……Thank you Jodi for asking me to help today. It was an honor to see you in a different light, but also a great reminder of the beautiful gift of marriage which God ordained for us.