“May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.” Proverbs 5:18
Sometimes weddings seem to take on a life of their own by giving us a little taste of heaven: the pageantry of the groom with his attendants eagerly awaiting his beloved; all in attendance rising in anticipation as the beautifully adorned bride makes her way down the aisle on the arm of her father to be entrusted into the care of this man to whom she’s been promised; the effervescence of their love adding a heavenly aura to a most auspicious occasion. But, at a recent wedding I attended my friend’s sour remark seemed to echo the attitude of so many in our culture: “This is as good as it gets.”
It’s true that while most young lovers are prone to thinking mostly about the “for better … for richer … or for health …” part of their wedding vows, the painful reality of living in a broken world is that
For better or for worse might mean:
In fitness or in fat
In employment or unemployment
For richer or for poorer could mean:
Sweet victory or prolonged failure
Carefree youth morphing into costly long-term care
In sickness and in health could mean:
Euphoria or depression
Passion or impotence
But God! For the beleaguered, how marvelous to read that Jesus’ first public act was at a wedding. (John 2) The wine was gone, no doubt to the embarrassment of the host family. And Jesus, to the wonder of all, supplied what was spent by turning six very large jars of ordinary water into extraordinary wine. In marriage, that is what God does for His children: He turns the spent into overflowing; the ordinary into festive joy, and infuses their fickle love with His own covenant love.
That was certainly our story! On the whole, Bob and I had a good marriage; but it was not without its challenges. Looking back on our 48 years of marriage, the miraculous thing is that because of what the Lord was doing in our hearts—changing each of us from self-servers to being servants of one another—in some ways the latter years were sweeter, more delightful than the first. I can stand in agreement with the master of the feast who declared, “… You have kept the good wine until now.” (John 2:10)
Have you asked Jesus to infuse your hearts and marriages with new wine?
