Vow Renewal

Last night at church we renewed our wedding vows. Jeff and I have been married over 21 years. We cried as my husband began reciting his vows. Both of us.

When we were first married we did choose to be married in a church. We wanted to do marriage ‘right.’ After we had lived together for a year… We rented a quaint stone church by a river. The chaplain of the local mental institute performed our ceremony. Really.

We wanted to honor God and have Him as part of our ceremony. We just didn’t know how or know Him. I look back now and realize that God was there, we just weren’t plugged in.

Fast forward through:

• Three babies, turned to toddlers, then adolescents, now all three are teens (yikes).
• Five home moves, building and/or remodeling four homes. Do you realize this is the second most stressful event in a person’s life next to death of a loved one? We perpetually have lived in this flux for over 20 years!
• Soccer games, wrestling matches, diesel drag races, horse shows, plays, choir concerts, track meets, cross country meets, parent teacher conferences, doctors appointments, dentist appointments, open houses, dances, countless visits to the emergency room, proms, first dates, heartbreaks, first teeth, braces, sleepless nights, summer camps, vacations, graduations, first loves…
• Anniversaries, date nights, divorce attorneys, extended family, long talks, embezzlement, baggage, miscarriage, walks, counseling, dreams that died, holidays, home maintenance, trips, new business adventures, landscaping, deaths, the daily grind, growing pains, family dinners, growing up, hurting, accidents, parties, milestones realized, friends, healing, friend’s divorces, mid-life crisis times two, hating, loving, surrendering…
• Meeting Jesus for real – up close and personal, following instead of just saying we believed in God, putting Christ first, learning to read and love the Bible, falling head over heals in love with Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ! Salvation. Working out our salvation (still). Changed lives. Redemption. Resurrection. Healing. Renewal! Learning to let Him work in us, through us and between us. Loving God. Loving people. Journeying forward!

Last night at church our vows meant more. Our vows were between two battle scarred, mature (at least more mature than we were), hope filled people in covenant with the Holy God.