One Thousand Gifts Devotional: Reflections on Finding Everyday Graces (One Thousand Gifts Journal) by Zondervan

Author:Zondervan [Zondervan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780310330264
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2012-11-20T06:00:00+00:00

DEVOTION 35

wedded grace

“A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife,

and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery,

but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.

Ephesians 5:31 - 32 NLT

When the back door of the sanctuary opens and she floats down the aisle under that veil of white, the groom grins giddy.

A son leans down the pew and whispers it too loud. “The guy looks like he’s going to split, he’s so happy.”

The groom smiles like he’s swallowed the canary through all three stanzas of the hymn they sing together. He beams deliriously when he tells us all from the platform, “I’m so grateful to the Lord that God let this day finally happen.”

It looks like his cheeks might hurt, his happiness through the vows: “After my complete commitment to the Lord, I promise you will be first in my life.”

The Farmer squeezes my hand. Murmurs it in my ear. “We should go home and recite our vows again too.”

I turn to catch his eye. “All over again. In a heartbeat.” He grins like he’s twenty, winks, and pulls me all into him.

And when the preacher says the groom can kiss his bride, he fumbles nervous with the hem of the veil, too anxious to get to her, and the guests all chuckle embarrassed and when he finally cups her face in his hands and revels unabashedly in her, I look away to the floor. This is all theirs.

Afterward, at the reception, there’s a little bottle of honey, liquid light in glass, on the plate of each guest. A son pats the Farmer’s arm and tells him they found honey, still good, in the pyramids. That honey always lasts.

That they’ve given us a token of forever.

On Sunday morning, we sit in the pews of our chapel, and the preacher’s preaching who we are in Christ.

“In Christ, you have immediate access to God and all of this is yours — joy, acceptance, completeness, rest, righteousness, access to the throne of God. You are sealed and He has pledged Himself to His people and you are His.”

And I look around and it strikes me — Why aren’t we all standing? Why aren’t we all grinning giddy? Why aren’t we all smiling like we just might split?

I keep reading the vows the preacher has on the screen, slow and captivated.

He’s given all these gifts to all His children, no matter where we are — why not slow and really revel in this because what love is greater than this?

• Joy is yours. “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” (1 Peter 1:8 NASB)

• Acceptance is yours. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6 KJV)

• Completeness is yours. “And in Him you have been made complete.

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