Marriage in the Real World: Wedding Vows
Friday, June 13, 2008 at 10:58PM We went to a wedding recently. Before the bride and groom exchange their vows, the bride’s parents renewed their vows. This couple had been married 25 years. First praise to the bride for being willing to share a few moments of her day with her parents.
I was struck by the contrast between each couple’s vows. The younger couple is all hope for the future, confident that nothing will ultimately tear their love part. They have good jobs. They are educated. They are healthy. Like most young couples, they have heard the horror stories and seen for their selves how tough it can be, as two become one. They share a vision for their future that is pleasing to both of them. They have been through pre-marriage counseling and have observed their parents marriages.
However confident they are, theirs is an untested confidence. Only time will tell if this hopeful young couple will some day be able to stand where her parents stood that day, 25 years later as hope becomes tested reality, tried in the fire of time and circumstances, that no young couple could anticipate. Even if they could anticipate the struggles that might come, they are still wrapped in the pleasant illusion that while stuff happens to other people will “never happen to us.”
I watched our friends renew their vows. They have been tried and test by need and plenty, by cancer and kids, by tempers and temperaments. Their love is not hopeful but hope realized. Hope in the biblical sense: the confident expectation that what is vowed will come to pass.
The wedding party was a lot of fun. The bride and groom were adorable. The mama of the bride did an outstanding job decorating the reception room. She, by the way had one of the nicest mothers of the bride dresses I have seen.
Perhaps what we should do is take some of what we spend on our weddings and put it in a saving account. At 25 years, we could than have access to the account and have a 25th wedding party gala, complete with the renewal of vows.
Hope future is a wonderful reason for a celebration. Hope realized, that is something worthy of honor, celebration and awe.
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Reader Comments (3)
Nice post. True marriage is sharing your load and being selfless to one another.
Cheers!
Metropolismom
Love this truth, hope is now better understood through this article! Thanks.
Enjoyed the read very much. Interesting comparison...one that I can understand fully. Time and the experiences it brings makes us see our lives differently, not better or worse just different.