The Wedding Box

There is so much going on in the world I could come up with about thirty things to write a blog about! But there seems to be plenty of information (and disinformation) flying all over the internet, TV stations and radio, so I don't really need to add to any of that.  I need to share something from my very simple life, and the way my Precious Savior entered it and loved on me!

Two days before our wedding anniversary (February 20), John and I were doing a little cleaning in our garage, mostly bringing some boxes down from the rafters so we could figure out what could be thrown out.  John carried two boxes into the house for me and laid them on the stairwell.

The next day, the day before our anniversary,  I decided to look inside one  of those boxes.  I should interject that I was already in a melancholy mood that week because it was the  very first week I knew John was not understanding at all what an "anniversary" meant and every time I got up my hopes up a little and contemplated whether or not I could plan a small trip for us, I would mention it to him. "Hey honey, it's almost our anniversary!"  Blank stare. No response.  I would continue, "What do you think about going back down to the beautiful castle in Colorado Springs where we celebrated last year?"  Blank stare. No comprehension.

It was actually what I already expected.  So, here I was, the day before our anniversary picking up this somewhat worn, old cardboard box that had been in the rafters for who-knows-how-long and taking it down to my office to have a peek inside. There are no words to describe what I saw!  It's been eleven years since our wedding and I had no idea this box of treasures still existed!  The first thing my fingers touched was one of the lanterns my five granddaughter/bridesmaids carried down the aisle!  Their little lanterns gleamed with light as the Scripture from Matthew 25 about the five virgins who had extra oil in their lamps was read.  The memory flooded me with joy!  Next I found a beautifully decorated tin in which about a dozen colorful index cards had been placed after my bridal shower. Each card had hand-written words of "advice to the bride." Time just stopped as I slowly read each one, pondering the wisdom my precious sisters in Messiah had written to me, and how those things became real and true for me during this marriage.  

Also in the box was the little velvet bag that held the bride price!  John had placed the traditional five silver coins in the bag and had presented it to my father during the service, in keeping with the Jewish wedding traditions. More important than tradition, we had read aloud from the Scriptures how Jesus paid the price for His Bride with His own blood.  My fingers trembled a little as I opened the drawstring and reached inside the bag, wondering if the silver was still there.  Of course it was not, as it was actually given to my father; but I burst out laughing when my fingers touched the tiny plastic cows and sheep in the bag.  John's prankster brother-in-law had put them in there when John wasn't looking, to represent the biblical bride price of livestock!  

Joy overwhelmed me as I found every wedding card given to us on that glorious day. At that point, I just got down on the floor, cross-legged, surrounded by cards and treasures of our remarkable and beautiful Hebraic wedding; and I knew with all my heart that Yeshua had done this for me!  When my earthly bridegroom was unable to celebrate the day with me, my Heavenly Bridegroom gave me this wedding box as a gift, an amazing surprise, a flood of joyful memories.  My heart overflowed.  But the Lord did not stop there.  On the day after our anniversary, an exquisitely beautiful bouquet arrived from a florist for me - pink, yellow and salmon colored roses with beautiful greenery, tied up in pink ribbons.  I knew that was beyond what John could have arranged, so I searched for a card and found one.  If this lovely, thoughtful gift had been from someone I see and talk to often in my life, it would have been equally as lovely but perhaps less amazing. As it turned out, the roses came from a dear sister in Christ whose Montana congregation I had taught and ministered to many, many years ago. She is still on this blog after all these years -- but we have seldom ever spoken or seen one another during that time. Again, I knew it was the Holy Spirit who had prompted her heart to do this, expressing through her the deep and intimate love He wanted to give to me.

I will always remember our 11th anniversary.  It was not the wonderful, sunny beach trips we often took together, or a cruise or even an elegant steakhouse dinner. It wasn't the marvelous castle in Colorado Springs with the canopy bed!  It was my Yeshua, my Jesus, tenderly reaching in to fill my heart with blessings and joyful memories and to make sure I would always have roses! How very intimate, how very personal is His love for us!

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:17-18)

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