our culture has ruined so many things...

Weddings and Marriage  

Weddings are the official, legal start of a marriage and marriage was first and foremostcreated by God .  So a wedding is the outward demonstration of a commitment which was made long before the actual ceremony.  A commitment to love and be with each other for the rest of your lives--i.e. marriage.  This is a commitment which is not made between two, but between three.  God is intended to be the center of every marriage as this is the way it is created to be. 

Yet in the culture and society we now live in, this is clearly not the case.  50% of all marriages end in a divorce--a statistic which is heartbreaking.  Divorce does not only affect the couple, but their families, their children, their friends, and all who they come into contact with on a daily basis.  It is ugly.  The love which once was the foundation of their marriage transforms into a mess where words are said in anger and people are asked to take sides.  Yet what is even more horrible is that this reality is not only a secular reality, but the statistic of 50% is also true in the church.  The church should be the one group of people who truly take  the concept that God is to be the center and should live out relationships which reflect that.  Marriage is a lifetime commitment yet it is not a commitment to some fairy tale ending.  It is a commitment to a lifetime together, through thick and thin--trials will come, but when God is in the center, these can be faced because God is on your side.  God must be the center of all of your life and when he is, you can face it all because he will give you the strength and peace you need to make it through.   

so what does all of this mean for me...

As I start to plan my wedding I am constantly faced with the extravaganza that our society calls wedding.  You should see what a bridal show is like--booth after booth after booth of service after service which you "need" in order to have the perfect wedding.  And let me tell you, these people know how to play off of your emotions.  They'll say things like "this is your big day"or "you only get married once" and then they proceed to show you how their price tag is not only reasonable, but quite the deal--yet when you step back for a second you go what!!! $16,000 (before tax) just for my guest to be served chicken and water?!!! 

The wedding industry is one of the biggest industries around.  They make more money off of poor, innocent brides who are just excited to get married than seems fair.  This is something which I need to remember, because it is so easy for me to get caught up in the moment and be like I am only getting married once (since I don't believe in divorce) and so it is okay to spend a couple hundred more to make sure that I get whatever it is I want to make my wedding special (because when you start talking about weddings a couple hundred is really like the equivalent of $20 in normal life).  But when I step back and think about what I'm doing I remember that a wedding is just an outward demonstration of the commitment that Josh and I have already made to each other and more importantly to God.  It is just a time to celebrate with our families and friends and a time to ask them to support us in our marriage and point us in the right direction when we need some Godly advice.  

So as I plan our wedding I am constantly reminded that our world needs Jesus and I need him to be the center of everything in my life.  So as I plan I try to keep it in perspective, knowing what is truly important.