Vol. 17 No. 22 | June 2, 2014
The date had been saved and had finally arrived. Family and friends from near and far gathered to offer their congratulations and ask for God to shower them with blessings and mercy. The music had been carefully selected. The decorations had been perfectly designed for the setting. The ladies’ dresses and men’s suits were selected, sewn and fitted with class and style. There was music of reflection, joy and celebration. In addition to the songs were promises, vows, stories, prayers and proclamations. Photographs were taken, food was consumed and the celebration began. One by one and couple by couple the guests made their exits. And then there were two.
Then there were two. Only the two. The man and the woman. The couple who had pledged to be faithful and true to one another until they are parted by death, drove away in a decorated car to their hotel and on to their honeymoon destination.
In a few days or a week or a couple of weeks the two will go home. Their home. Their first home. There, in the new home, they will begin to make their life together. There, in the new home, the two will discover that the promises they have made to one another on that one night were more than mere poetic and romantic words. Those words, those promises, now become the life they have committed to live. Those words, those vows, now begin to have a deeper meaning. Now there are two that are truly becoming one.
The two, may eventually become three, or four, or five, or six, or more. Or, perhaps the two will remain two but will expand their family to include close friends and deep relationships that extend beyond the walls of their home, and those walls will welcome those extended relationships. The two will become more.
The years will pass. The memories will grow. The relationships will grow deeper. The marriage will grow stronger. The two will become more mature. The two that were once distinctly two will gradually and become more distinctly one.
Then, one day, one by one those who have grown out of the two will find the one for whom God has been preparing them. They too will save a date, plan the event, create the setting, share their vows, express their love, enjoy the celebration, receive the congratulations and good wishes, and eventually go off on their own where they will grow to become one.
That is the nature of marriage and the family. That has been the plan since the beginning.
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. (Genesis 2:21-24, NIV)
Tom
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