The new bride is someone I've enjoyed growing to know over the last couple of years. She is the only daughter - in the middle of four brothers. Maybe that's why I like her so much - seeing that I have three brothers and no sisters, there's something about being the "only" girl. This young woman is...well...young-er....than me by a few decades which means she's among the age of my own daughters.
At the shower, she was asked to share her story - how she met her soon-to-be husband, the courtship, and engagement. The story was sweet and unusual by today's familiar standards. Very briefly, it took her older brother contacting the young man, asking him if he intended to take a wife in his future plans and to consider pursuing his sister. Wow! How many brothers would go that extra mile? The young man eventually took this request seriously, followed up with communication to her out-of-country parents - and we'll say, "the rest is history." They married just a week ago.
What was especially meaningful as she shared her story was her response to him upon receiving her engagement ring. A beautiful diamond setting on a black/gray band. She didn't want to accept it at first...it was too beautiful, she said. She didn't feel it was deserved. As her heart and mind struggled over the precious gift from her future husband....she realized....it would be showing an ungrateful heart to The Giver.
Seeing her future husband through new eyes, she understood in her soul that this was the beginning of many opportunities to show grace and thanksgiving to her beloved.
"How much like Christ," she said. "How often He wants to surprise us with his precious and generous giving, yet, we refuse to receive from The Giver the very best He has to offer, ignoring those very gifts because we think we ought to receive something different."
Here is a young woman, half my age, reminding me of a very basic truth.
Marriage is that tremendous gift. An example of the Greatest Gift - our Lord and Savior. And, what more does he wish to give us through his own life? How could I want for anything else?
No comments:
Post a Comment