Revelations

Preparing for marriage and preparing for a wedding are two entities which, though not mutually exclusive, are fundamentally different in purpose, duration and resource.

We would like to get married and start a life together. Simple and pure. And we encapsulate this in a vow before the blessing and witness of our Lord. To honour our parents as well, we seek their blessings and participation in the preparations and proceedings. This extends to our closer circles of relatives and friends. To express the love we have for our relatives and friends, we invite them to add to the joy of the occasion by gracing their presence.

And it radiates, it overflows, the love the Christ has for us, overflows abundantly from ourselves, bound as one, to all around us.

And this is the reason why we bend, why we compromise, why we would even put up this celebration of our union to scrutiny, seemingly senseless requests, why we struggle to consider and meet as many perspectives as possible while keeping to our values and the integrity of the event.

So I was reminded of Ella Enchanted. Ella who, with the gift of obedience, submit to every order in spite of her will. We surrender, however, by will, to express our love and to save those we love from harm, sadness or despair.

And that was how Jesus loved us. When we appreciate this, we would understand how the holy spirit works in us and how we must always remember to protect it in our marriage. And then planning for a wedding would be another way for us, this time as man and wife, to express our love. For our Lord, for each other, for all around us.

Merry Christmas..