Good Morning, Friends!!
Last week was my daughter Morgan’s wedding, and I was asked to officiate. I was so excited when Morgan and her fiancé asked me to officiate their big day. Over the months before the wedding,I worked on the ceremony. Writing. Rewriting. Rewriting again. practicing and practicing some more.
I knew the wedding day was going to be emotional and even more so, walking Morgan down the aisle, then standing in front of the bride, groom, and guests to officiate. I had been praying for weeks that God would give me the strength to hold my emotions together as I officiated.
Friday night, before we had the wedding, we had a rehearsal, and I was just full of emotions and could hardly keep from tearing up at every little thing. I thought to myself, you are in trouble when the time comes for the wedding tomorrow. I had quiet time during the day of the wedding, so I prayed even harder for God to give me the strength to contain my emotions.
While sitting at one of the reception tables, going over the ceremony, the sound guy came over and told me it was too windy outside to use a lapel mic, so we would have to use a handheld mic. I thought I could do that, hold a mic, my bible, and turn my notes.
Time to walk Morgan down the aisle. The sound guy hands me a mic right before we walk out the door and down the aisle outside. Walking down the aisle, I am emotionally strong.
I get into position, and the wind begins to pick up. One of my notes goes flying. The bridesmaid grabs it for me. Then another of my notes goes flying. The best man grabs my note and hands it back to me. I am now trying to juggle a mic, my bible, and keep my notes from flying all over the place. Somehow, I can continue to keep my place and continue the ceremony as papers fly and groomsmen and bridesmaids grab them for me.
We finish the ceremony, and all I can think of is how I messed up the most important day of my daughter’s life. By messed up I mean we had to keep stopping to grab papers and then continue on. I was just upset that the ceremony did not go as smoothly as I had planned.
A few days later, I was reflecting on the ceremony, and then it struck me like a ton of bricks what I was praying for. I was praying to be emotionally strong as I stood in front of the bride and groom. God gave me exactly what I was praying for because with all the commotion of flying notes, my voice didn’t quiver once, and I didn’t shed one tear.
How God was going to help me be emotionally strong never really occurred to me. I just asked Him to help me be emotionally strong.
I encourage each of us to be aware of answered prayers, even when they don’t come in the way we had imagined. I think sometimes we share with God what we want without thinking about how He might answer our prayer.
Yes, in those flying papers was God answering my prayer when all I saw was a mess.
God does have a sense of humor because instead of tears at the altar, we had laughs and wonderful memories.
Your Friend,
Aaron