"My heart is stirred by a noble theme..." Psalm 45:1
So in two days it will be two weeks from mine and Brad's wedding on June 30, 2012
... and we are finally settled in and at home. Initially we spent the first couple days in Birmingham at a nice hotel where Brad gets a teacher discount. It was our mini honeymoon since our real one isn't until the end of the month (because of the initial Teach for America plan).
So on day two of being married while at the hotel my mind and heart were so much on the events from that past weekend (our wedding!) It was such a special time having so many friends come in. Two of my bridesmaids came in from Nicaragua; one from Sudan; one from Connecticut; two from North Carolina; one from Washington D.C. and one from Atlanta. Other friends also came from a number of different locations; they came from California, New Orleans, Haiti, and many other places as well. One friend brought her three children, all under 4 years old, all the way from North Carolina. Brad's best friend and cousin Eric came in from Portland, Oregon. For someone like me who loves community - this was a dream come true. I tried to host as many people as I could in mine and Brad’s home. I wanted to enjoy everyone being close and the chance to spend quality time with as many people as possible. I also tried to strategically place everyone who lives in tropical/hot climates (Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan) in my home so I could hopefully turn up the temperature to something warm that I would enjoy. (Now that I am married I wear a fleece pajama set around my home just to stay warm.)
Me in my “Grey Animal” Winter Fleece (Christmas gift from my mom)
Anyways I really had such a great time at our wedding and afterwards just kept daydreaming about how fun it was to see everyone and spend time with so many friends. And I began to think two things:
1. About the depressed, lonely feeling that I always feel after any wedding
2. And, I wondered what God thought about our wedding? Or any wedding?
Ever since about my senior year of college (when my friends first started getting married) I began to experience a pattern of thoughts and feelings following any wedding I attended. The wedding itself would be so fun but then the week after I would feel depressed; all I could think about would be the wedding and how fun it was and how I wished every day could be like that. It would take me about a week or two to acclimate back to normal life and be fine, but the pattern has continued ever since then.
So for my next thought “What did God think about our wedding?” – I began reading through some of what the bible has to say about weddings (verses below), and the thought that kept coming to mind is that God not only acknowledges them but is intentional about talking about weddings; He specifically mentions over and over a wedding feast when Christ and His bride (us!) are united.This is supposed to be a huge event - the day that Christ keeps waiting for.
Putting the two thoughts together – Ecclesiastes says that God has “set eternity in the hearts of man” and this makes sense. I think that weddings are a taste of what is to come; they are “eternity” set in our hearts and consequently when we experience them and leave them, we long to return to them. Its as if our hearts know what is to come and we know we are made to experience the joy of this great and final wedding feast (the joys of people being reunited & the joy of a bride and groom finally coming together). This is the joy our hearts love and long for (because they will exist in another time).
Hence – “my heart is stirred by a noble theme.” This is the introduction to what is known as the wedding psalm in the bible. Weddings are a noble theme! They are glimpses into God’s heart and into something He loves and is waiting to put on for all of us when the time is right.
Overall the wedding was a blast and now I am married and this is my new life!
Brad Sleeping On His Recliner
Brad Sleeping Up Close
Wedding Bible Verses
Matthew 22:1-14 - "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son..."
Matthew 25:10 - "The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet."
Luke 12:36 - "...like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet..."
Revelation 19:7 - "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready..."
Revelation 19:9 - "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb"
