No, this isn’t our first dance song. Although it was my favorite song in seventh grade!
This is exactly what happened at the first miracle at the Wedding at Cana. Jesus was invited to a wedding and he must have RSVP’d because he was there when the dreaded thought of the wine running out occurred.
His mother ran to him and asked him for help. He told the servants to fill the jugs with water and bring it to the master of the banquet’s table. (I wonder if this is like the wedding coordinator back in the day. I am picturing Martin Short’s character from Father of the Bride).
When the master tasted it he pulled the groom aside and said, “Why are you serving this now!? Everyone brings out the good wine at the beginning and saves the cheap wine for when people are too drunk and happy to notice!” (I'm paraphrasing here)
And so the story ends and the celebration continued and this was the first miracle of Jesus.
Interesting story on so many levels. After talking with one of my bridesmaids (Hey Amy!) we sort of hashed out a few key points.
• Jesus was invited and came to a wedding
• What Jesus touches makes things better
First, I love that Jesus went to a wedding. He was obviously invited and attended. He saw the importance of marriage. The very symbol of the Groom coming for his Bride was about to take place in his own life on a Cross in a few short years.
Jesus created a wine that tasted even better than the best wine served at the beginning. And for the master to recognize this in perhaps a slightly tipsy state says something about how good that wine was! Jesus made it better.
What can we take from this? First and foremost, Jesus is invited to our wedding, our marriage, and our life! I want him to attend. I want him to be the honored guest. I want him to be a part of our celebration. We are having this shin-dig in his honor- to signify the beauty and symbolism of the wedding ceremony and to rejoice in him bringing us together.
And I sure hope that it gets better and better. I think after several Couples Sunday School Classes and Pre-marital counseling sessions we can firmly say that nothing will get better, resolved or grow with out his help and I want the best wine to come later. I think with and only with Jesus help can the "wine" of marriage get better.
We are having a quote from C.S. Lewis read at our wedding. I absolutely love it. It is the most realistic approach to marriage I can think of. This, my friends, is just the beginning for Blake and I. I hope you will join us in prayer as we continue on this journey…the three of us.
From A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works "Being in Love"
"If the old fairy-tale ending "They lived happily ever after" is taken to mean "They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married," then it says what probably never was nor ever would be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be "in love" need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense-love as distinct from "being in love"—is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be "in love" with someone else. "Being in love" first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it."
-- C. S. Lewis
Ecclesiastes 4:12 (New International Version)
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
John 2 (New International Version)
John 2
Jesus Changes Water to Wine
1On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."
5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[a]
7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."
They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
11This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The Big Design
I just wanted to let everyone know who follows this little blog that I am still here and things are in the works to update all of you on a few changes that are to take place in my life.
I am sort of unsure how to approach the blog since things are changing. Obviously my parents are much better and in a totally new place compared to that cold December night in 2008.
The blog began as a way to update everyone on their progress and out of it a beautiful healing process began. I shared with all of you the pain of physical recovery and the spiritual redemption that we experienced and I hope in turn it touched you on some level.
I want to continue sharing what the Lord teaches me as I move from being a bachelorette to a newlywed but I am not sure if this is the platform for those experiences. My life is about to drastically change. Not only will I go from single life to married life but I am moving to a new city, learning to share my living quarters and going back to school!
I am enrolling in a few graphic design classes and chasing after a dream I have come to realize over the course of my 20s. As I pray about how to refocus the blog please leave your thoughts and comments if you are still interested in reading these ramblings.
I feel like God has some exciting "designs" in store for me and I can't wait to share them with you if you will let me in.
Thank you for your prayers, thoughts, cards, emails and encouragement over this 2.5 year journey. I continue to cherish these moments we have shared over this little blog.
Exodus 35:35 (New International Version)
35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them master craftsmen and designers.
I am sort of unsure how to approach the blog since things are changing. Obviously my parents are much better and in a totally new place compared to that cold December night in 2008.
The blog began as a way to update everyone on their progress and out of it a beautiful healing process began. I shared with all of you the pain of physical recovery and the spiritual redemption that we experienced and I hope in turn it touched you on some level.
I want to continue sharing what the Lord teaches me as I move from being a bachelorette to a newlywed but I am not sure if this is the platform for those experiences. My life is about to drastically change. Not only will I go from single life to married life but I am moving to a new city, learning to share my living quarters and going back to school!
I am enrolling in a few graphic design classes and chasing after a dream I have come to realize over the course of my 20s. As I pray about how to refocus the blog please leave your thoughts and comments if you are still interested in reading these ramblings.
I feel like God has some exciting "designs" in store for me and I can't wait to share them with you if you will let me in.
Thank you for your prayers, thoughts, cards, emails and encouragement over this 2.5 year journey. I continue to cherish these moments we have shared over this little blog.
Exodus 35:35 (New International Version)
35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them master craftsmen and designers.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Separation Anxiety
Blake and I have had phases of being a long distance couple in our 3.5 years of dating. When we first met he lived in town, just a few miles away. Then after about 4 months he moved back home to wait and see what med school would accept him. He was about 4 hours away and we did our best to see each other as often as we could and adapt to our new relationship as it changed and grew.
Luckily, UAB was where he ended up for med school and as quickly as he left Birmingham he returned back! We lived only 15 minutes away from each other for 2 years until this past year when he moved to Tuscaloosa for his 3rd year rotations.
We went right back to being a “long distance” couple and relied heavily on our cell phone providers and their unlimited text messaging and/or friends and family plans. Tuscaloosa is only an hour away and the weeks tend to go by fairly quickly and before I realize it the weekend is upon us.
The fall seemed to fly by because I was always headed to Tuscaloosa on game days (Go Dawgs-don’t worry UGA you’re still #1 in my book). The New Year started with a few surgeries for mom and an engagement ring for me. Here we are today in the thick of wedding planning.
Not much is left to plan really, just a lot of tiny details before the big day. But what I am realizing more and more is that I am so ready to live not only in the same city as Blake but also the same apartment with Blake. I am thrilled about our upcoming wedding but I’m more excited to no longer be separated by space and time.
I am eager to share a space with my best friend. Dare I say it, I am ready to have a roommate again?! Lately I can tell in my voice and his that each time we say goodbye at night we are both experiencing a little separation anxiety…Just wishing it was as easy as rolling over and turning off a bedside lamp instead of hanging up a cell phone.
Do you ever experience separation anxiety from your true love? Well the funny thing is you can’t. You can never be separated from the love of God. No matter what happens in life-good or bad-nothing can keep you from God’s love.
Life throws a lot of curve balls and change up pitches. Sometimes a curve ball comes and I’m not even standing in the batter’s box! But no matter what, I’m still receiving the redeeming love of my Savior.
Of all the verses in the Bible this one speaks to me the most. I think because of what it says so clearly. Nothing can keep me from God’s love-not even unexplained car accidents, cancer, depression, or even happy times. He is and always will be right by our sides.
Romans 8:37-39 (New International Version)
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Luckily, UAB was where he ended up for med school and as quickly as he left Birmingham he returned back! We lived only 15 minutes away from each other for 2 years until this past year when he moved to Tuscaloosa for his 3rd year rotations.
We went right back to being a “long distance” couple and relied heavily on our cell phone providers and their unlimited text messaging and/or friends and family plans. Tuscaloosa is only an hour away and the weeks tend to go by fairly quickly and before I realize it the weekend is upon us.
The fall seemed to fly by because I was always headed to Tuscaloosa on game days (Go Dawgs-don’t worry UGA you’re still #1 in my book). The New Year started with a few surgeries for mom and an engagement ring for me. Here we are today in the thick of wedding planning.
Not much is left to plan really, just a lot of tiny details before the big day. But what I am realizing more and more is that I am so ready to live not only in the same city as Blake but also the same apartment with Blake. I am thrilled about our upcoming wedding but I’m more excited to no longer be separated by space and time.
I am eager to share a space with my best friend. Dare I say it, I am ready to have a roommate again?! Lately I can tell in my voice and his that each time we say goodbye at night we are both experiencing a little separation anxiety…Just wishing it was as easy as rolling over and turning off a bedside lamp instead of hanging up a cell phone.
Do you ever experience separation anxiety from your true love? Well the funny thing is you can’t. You can never be separated from the love of God. No matter what happens in life-good or bad-nothing can keep you from God’s love.
Life throws a lot of curve balls and change up pitches. Sometimes a curve ball comes and I’m not even standing in the batter’s box! But no matter what, I’m still receiving the redeeming love of my Savior.
Of all the verses in the Bible this one speaks to me the most. I think because of what it says so clearly. Nothing can keep me from God’s love-not even unexplained car accidents, cancer, depression, or even happy times. He is and always will be right by our sides.
Romans 8:37-39 (New International Version)
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)