Pictures of Marriage and of the Works of God. And something about Vows and Presents.

We had a great weekend this past weekend.

One of my very dear friends married the love of her life at her parents home in our small hometown. We ate and ate and prepared. We relaxed and chatted. We decorated (ourselves and the reception) and then we partied. I even DANCED during the recessional in front of my parents, my husband, and my in-laws. Me, the girl without any rhythm. Which. was. interesting. And everything other than that part was beautiful. Sadly, I forgot to take photos of the beautiful reception and other festivities. But thankfully, no one caught my dance on video (that I know of).
It was a lovely, joyous time and I am so happy for my friend and her new hubby. Their marriage ceremony was a great reminder of the vows my husband and I made on August 9 of last year. It was a gentle reminder to us from the Lord about how holy and beautiful of a thing marriage is, of how he ordained it, and that it is what we are now called to even in the most mundane and ordinary of moments in our lives. We are to put our spouse in front of ourselves. That he is to love me as Christ loves the church and that I am to respect him.
And how fitting and personal is God to not only remind us in one way, but to personalize the reminder for us by another means.
You see, my Milly (my nickname for my mother-in-law) had been working since April (unbeknownst to us) with a calligrapher to have our very own vows memorialized into a piece of art. Now she had been hoping to have it ready for our first wedding anniversary, but God had another plan and the artist was unable to get things ready until now. Just in time for this trip, after fifteen months of marriage, the vows we spoke to one another some fifteen months ago have been written down and my Milly presented them to us after my friends wedding festivities were over. They are now hanging on the wall of our home. It is a joy to see them and read them again.
Now after all of that it is about time for me to get back on track with my schooling. But friends, I am a tired female. And I made (asked? begged? suggested!) Mr. Ruggedly Handsome and I listen to Christmas carols on the drive back to our home last night so today I am in a Christmas-present shopping mood. (And because I have been surfing and shopping today instead of studying like I should be, I have come to realize that it is sooooo much easier shopping for women than for men! Or perhaps it is just more fun. ha!)
Anyhow, I have to push through the next three-ish weeks without distraction and primarily the next 9 days to finish up the paper for real this time. I did get a draft turned in and my professor did not review it, but hopefully, it is because he thinks its probably close enough that it will be signed off on after this impending due date!
One final though before I force myself to study for the next two hours before Mr. Ruggedly Handsome comes home.... I just saw my reflection in the iron that is sitting on my coffee table (because I was ironing earlier). Now, it is not just any reflection that I saw. It is one where my hair is all on top of my head in a crazy bun that looks like one of my dance teachers from childhood (or the mean substitute teacher we had frequently in high school). The reflection is quite dim, so when I first noticed myself, I was quite terrified of what I saw, because I thought it was someone standing behind me. (I'm tired). But before I screamed I looked at little closer and was able to recognize myself to some degree.
But it reminded me of 1 Corinthians 3:12 "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."
And it was this beautiful picture to me of how very little we really do see of the work that God is doing. So much so that at moments we do not even understand what we are seeing. Just as today I did not even recognize my own reflection in the iron until I studied it very closely. And even upon second consideration, that image in the iron does not very much resemble the image I see look much like the me I see in a clean mirror in the bathroom in the morning, but was enough that I could slightly recognize what was making the image.
Just so you get a bit of an idea, you can see some of what I saw in this photo above. It was a little less shiney and a little more reflection-y from my view, but you get the idea.