Team work

I’m headed out of town to a small wedding this week. I wouldn’t miss it for, as a friend of mine used to say, all the tea in China. You don’t have to know the details to believe that this vow moment is a wow one.

The ceremony will occur in the most unlikely of circumstances. Shakespeare would be perversely proud. The bride and groom have waited a long time to find each other, maybe wondering a little along the way if they ever would. While their love is pure, their path has been muddied with complications not of their own making. More than one thing has threatened to spin out of their control. They’ve had to make new plans and redesign old ones. They’ve had to rely on strangers and friends in ways foreign. They’ve had to lean on each other before they’ve even had the time to build the deep trust that develops through years of marriage.

And, yet, they have persevered by picking up whichever block became a boulder and, as a team, tossing it aside – sometimes just in time for the next boulder. Their challenges would give many couples pause, and maybe change minds. But not these two. They’re a team, and they will approach marriage as a team – even before those vows officially bind.

These two are important to me and I’ve hurt for them at times. But I’ve been inspired more. They’ve enjoyed the giddiness of getting married. They’ve kept Jesus smack in the middle, without pretending to always be happy with the moment. None of us know what life will throw our way or, frankly, how it will end. Charles and I were married for years before we had to face some of life’s toughest challenges, while this couple is getting some of their take-downs early. But their reliance on faith - and each other –means something.

When they look back on their life together, no matter how many years from now

that is, they will be able to do it in the light and love of Jesus, and each other.