Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at my grandparent’s homes were probably similar to your own. They were always accompanied by boisterous children, women with long cooking aprons and short on patience, glass stemware on the table, sterling silver cutlery and china plates out of the antique cupboard. Cloth napkins and sitting up straight with hand in the lap, were expected. They were momentous occasions and always started with a prayer of gratitude, for family and provision. The traditions continue for the most part, sans apron. Much of the rest of the year, however, we eat out, we eat in, we eat with entertainment and we eat too much.
I wonder as our lives are more enriched than ever before, if we’ve gotten so accustomed to being more with than without, we’ve simultaneously forgotten how notable it is to have such luxuries, and how much longer it takes us to recognize the beauty within average circumstances worthy of the lingering pause it takes to etch into working memory. The emotional ties that are bound within that framework are what cause us to pass down the tradition, the sanctity of family.
Sacred too, is the heartbeat of marriage.
It is such a remarkable choice in life, to take one life to have and to hold dear. We accept the challenge so quickly, often not realizing the allegiance it both requires and deserves. I am grateful to get a second chance to adhere to that level of devotion and twenty years in, and more than a few wrinkles deep, love has been sustained by grace more than anything else I can pinpoint and there is an emerging tenderness and comfort that sustains us. It is one part of getting older that I can fully appreciate.
The wedding ceremony will come and then go, the coming together of people in celebration of a promise of unity will fade, but the ties that bind will linger long into the years and is strengthened still by future additional strands and names entered into the Holy book. Hold fast to the created sacred traditions that mark your place in your generational story and celebrate the magic and the wonder and the gift of life. Love one another as He first loved us.
Elaine
