As the sun slid to the west and
spread its gleaming wash over a sea of waving grass, we stood on the fringe of
the Black Banks River and inhaled the marsh air. I realized Jerry and I were at
this coastal setting a year ago this same weekend for a short vacation. We left
to begin what we believed to be a brief pandemic lockdown.
I laugh to think about all we
didn’t know at the time. But it was just as well. I don’t think I would’ve
wanted to know the length and difficulty of all we were facing.
On this one-year anniversary of
the pandemic onset, we were back for a wedding. Jerry had officiated at the wedding
of the bride’s parents back in the day, then baptized her, and now he had the very
great privilege of conducting the service for her wedding as well. Since Jerry
spent the first thirteen years of his professional life as an attorney until the
Lord called him into the ministry, this was the first wedding where he officiated the service for offspring of those he had married. I was here to do music as
I did at her parent’s wedding. As Jerry prayed in one of his prayers, “Oh,
Lord, how much joy could we have in one day!!”
The answer is an enormous amount.
We sat marsh side and ate our
barbecue at the rehearsal dinner, and it seemed more than our stomachs were
being fed. It was as if our very souls were nourished. The truth of
Psalm 19:1 was clear. “God’s glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on
exhibit across the horizon” (The Message).
And the next day, when the radiant bride made her trip down the aisle on the arm of her father, to come
full circle and be here to witness this precious couple in their new
beginning lifted us and gave us hope for our own fresh start and new season.
As I write now, the daffodils and
forsythias outside the French doors of my office are in full bloom, the irises
have opened, and the orange delight flowering quince is brilliant.
Solomon said, “See, the winter is
past, the rains are over and gone; Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing
of birds has come, and the cooing of doves is heard in our land” (Solomon
2:11-12).
Many have been in a hard, long winter
and face the future with heavy hearts, but Solomon also wrote
though there is a time to weep and mourn, there is also a time to laugh and
dance.
Dear friends, despite the challenges of this past year, I pray that each of you would find laughter again, and that your feet would begin to step livelier.
So, thank you, Lord, for lifting
our hearts and spirits, and thank you dear Jessica and Grayson for this loveliest of
times. It was an honor to be with you. We ask God’s richest blessings on your
journey together.
