HELD :: Five-Minute Friday
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HELD
2020 is a thief. Not just grand larceny level but a pickpocket and a kleptomaniac. The forces that have converged this year will rob everything in sight. For our family that included my daughter's wedding originally scheduled for April 25, 2020.
Some women naturally soak up the spotlight their entire lives, but not Kendra. She has to be coaxed and of all the things I grieved when we had to postpone her wedding it was her moment to be the star of the show. Not in an obnoxious, reality-television way of manufactured drama - all style and no substance. I mean in the way a wedding - imagined at some level by our Creator - creates a backdrop for the radiance of a bride who knows she is loved.
All of us need a regular dose of good weddings in our lives. It reminds us that we are all the Bride - beloved, and pursued by Jesus. I hated with a mama-bear fury 2020 for robbing us all of this moment. At some level, I hated it for my own doubting heart. I needed Kendra and Jordan to reenact in a visible way the invisible reality of our place as the Beloved held in the gaze of Christ.
The wedding between Kendra and Jordan required a force of love greater than the chaos taking advantage of our vulnerabilities this year. We needed our individual love for the Bride and Groom to unionize into something unstoppable.
So many hands dropped all the accumulated weight of suffering in this year in order to hold tight to the joy and beauty and celebration 2020 keeps trying to steal from us. Friends and family tucked away for future retrieval all they've been carrying - deep personal grief and loss, illness, job anxiety, legitimate fear for their health and well-being in order to pick up every bit of this celebration. Together we hunted down every last scrap of joy and beauty and returned it to its rightful owner.
God, as God does, restored each bit into something even more beautiful and joyous than we could've imagined. On October 10, 2020, together, with God's help, we held the four corners of celebration so that Kendra and Jordan could find shelter for their covenant to God and each other.
This must always happen, of course. No marriage stands on its own. But if I could, I would hand out actual superhero capes for each person who contended with the chaos in order to hold onto the joy with us.
All of it worked together for the good of this grieving mama's heart. All we've lost has been held, is being held, and will be forever held in the good hands of our good Father, the Keeper of all that can never be stolen and is at all times being made new. Amen.
p.s., I'm positive I'll be sharing so many photos and video clips for months, but for a little peek into the grand entrance, here's FB video from Jordan's Aunt Jolyn.
Welcome back to the new weekly feature, Five-Minute Friday. For the remaining weeks of Ordinary Time, I'll be sharing a five-minute written reflection on one word I've been pondering. (I'm literally setting a stopwatch for five minutes so that I can just write already!)
Thanks for being a listening community and a safe place to offer stories from my everyday experiences and epiphanies. I'm grateful for your companionship.
I'd love to hear your reflections from this week. Feel free to respond to the word "HELD" or just share your own experiences and epiphanies from the week.
*This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up! You can read all the Five-Minute Friday posts here.