Marriage

In honor of my thirteenth wedding anniversary, I wanted to write something about the blessing of marriage. But, as I sit here, thinking about marriage, here’s what keeps going through my head:

“Mawage. Mawage is what brings us together today. Mawage, that bwessed awangement, that dweam wifin a dweam… and wuv, twu wuv, will fowow you foweva. So tweasure your wuv…”

If you don’t recognize that quote, check out this clip from the movie “The Princess Bride” and then you’ll understand. Thinking about those words always makes me laugh, but I realized as I was writing them down that there’s actually some truth there.

1. Marriage is a blessed arrangement. God ordained it from the beginning when he created Eve as a helpmate for Adam.

2. Marriage requires you to treasure your love. Treasure here is a verb. It means “to keep or regard as precious; to value highly; appreciate; cherish.” The covenant love between a husband and wife is something that must be protected at all cost. It takes work. It doesn’t just happen.

3. Marriage is a dream come true. I had almost given up on that dream, but God had a crazy plan for my life that ultimately led me to my one true love. After thirteen years, I’m still amazed that I’ve been given the privilege of living the dream.

In preparation for this great adventure called marriage, we spent a lot of time thinking about the words that would be spoken at our wedding ceremony. I have the words written down in a scrapbook so that I can remind myself of what we promised to each other and what is required to maintain a strong marriage.

The following words from our ceremony still serve both to challenge me and to encourage me in the journey:

Christian marriage is not living merely for each other; it is two individuals uniting and joining hands to serve God. Let me charge you both to remember that your future happiness is to be found in mutual consideration, patience, kindness, confidence, and affection. It is the duty of each to find the greatest joy in the company of the other and to remember that in interest as in affection you are to be henceforth one and undivided. When life is done, may you be found then as now, hand in hand, still thanking God for each other. May you ever serve Him happily and faithfully together until you return to glory or until at last one shall lay the other into His arms.

So, today, I am thankful for the blessed arrangement of marriage. I am thankful for my wonderful husband whom I adore. I am thankful that God brought us together. And, I am thankful that I truly do find my greatest joy in the company of my husband. I am thankful for the past thirteen years and I look forward to many more wonderful years to come.

I love you, honey! Happy Anniversary!

"Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away..." - Song of Solomon 8:7

A Thankful Heart at Christmas

Being a parent is hard. There are days when you wonder if your children even hear what you’re saying to them. There are days when all you can do is pray and hope for the best. But, then, there are those rare and beautiful days when you get a glimpse into the heart of your child and you realize that somewhere along the way, you must have been doing something right.

I had one of those moments this week. My youngest daughter had been working diligently on something for a good part of the evening, and when she handed it to me, I saw that it was her annual Christmas letter to Santa. This is what it said:

Dear Santa Claus,

I love you. You are great. I would like a password journal and the Mary Grace American girl doll, book, and accessories. You are my favorite person that gives presents.

I love what you do for everyone around the world. Thank you, Santa Claus!

In this consumer-driven world that we live in, it made my heart glad to see that she spent more time in this letter thanking and praising Santa than she did asking for more stuff.

Praying that the spirit of love and giving will fill our hearts and our homes during this Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

Social Justice is not enough... We need a miracle

Social Justice. It’s a hot topic right now. Everyone from celebrities to missionaries seems to be hopping on the social justice bandwagon. At first glance, that seems like a good thing. I mean, the heart of the social justice movement is to help ease the plight of the poor and needy. However, I’m not sure it’s such a good thing.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve repaired and painted buildings in the slums of Mexico. I’ve spent my Sunday afternoons feeding and caring for the homeless men and women in Moore square. I’ve sat in an orphanage in China and loved on the precious children who were abandoned by their parents due to some perceived imperfection.

I believe James 1:27 which says “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” I get it. And, I try my best to live it out.

But, here’s my concern. I believe that the heavy focus on social justice may be distracting the church from a greater purpose. Social justice puts the focus on the physical need, and for that reason, meeting that need becomes an end in and of itself. For example, if children don’t have shoes, then the social justice movement would compel us to collect shoes and give them to the children. That’s a good and worthy thing to do. But, as Christians, if we stop there, how are we any different from any other governmental or social agency? As Christians, we have something more to bring to the table.

I do believe that we have to start by meeting the physical need – by providing the shoes. But, we need to do more than that. In a sense, the shoes should be a means to an end rather than an end in and of themselves. The shoes should open the door for us to then connect the felt need of the people with the power of God.

Look at Peter’s example in Acts 3-4. When Peter and John encountered the lame man at the temple, they could have taken the approach that many would have taken today. They could have taken him to a soup kitchen to get some food. They could have connected him with an agency that would provide him with braces for his legs so that he could be more mobile. But, Peter and John looked at the man and saw his condition and they said:

"Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Wow! What an amazing way to meet the need of this poor beggar! And, if you continue to read Acts 3-4, you’ll see that this event impacted not only the man himself but the entire community.

Some people say that miracles like that aren’t for today, but I disagree. God hasn’t changed. His power is still the same. However, I do believe that we’ve changed. We have become so reliant on ourselves and our affluence and our abilities to meet the needs of others that we forget to call on the one who has the power to TRULY meet the needs in a miraculous and life-changing way.

I’m not knocking the social justice movement, but for me – it’s not enough. I want to see the lame walk and the sick healed and the captive set free. I want to see the power of God displayed in miraculous ways. I want to see lives changed and nations transformed. And, I want to see God glorified in our church, in our community, in our nation, and in the world.

“(Jesus said) Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” -- John 14:12-14