no, actually it began on Sunday when he picked her up at the airport bearing precious gifts...
well, probably Saturday when she ventured off to Africa to meet her one true love...
or perhaps on Friday when she packed and weighed the last, last bag…
back and back and back.
But truth be told, it did begin here at Refilwe nearly four years ago. When everything had been said and done, it made so much sense to mark the official beginning of their married life right here. But that was not the initial plan.
The plan was to travel to the Department of Home Affairs in a certain city at an appointed time on Tuesday afternoon, pay the necessary fee, sign the proper papers, and without further ado to become a married couple.
He works in ways we cannot see, He will make a way for me…
There they were, in my head, the words of the little chorus by Don Moen that I've loved for a decade (or two?!) I remember quite clearly driving to piano lessons down a Pennsylvania valley one day, my heart aching with an especially knotty foster parenting problem, and Joseph reminded me, "Mom, God will make a way…" Now it was my turn. I spoke the words, "God will make a way, when there seems to be no way…" it was not my problem, not really their problem; it was God's opportunity to lead, to make a way, to create something better than any of us could have imagined. We prayed together and agreed to meet again in the morning to look at the next step.
We went our separate ways, quietly, somberly. Thoughts were chattering in my head – "surely we had not come all this way to miss the actual event…maybe we could …oops, not gonna go there... God will make a way. Rest, rest, rest in that truth." And I did. I fell asleep thinking those words, and when I awoke throughout the night, I would simply say to myself, "God will make a way."
Joseph is telling a guy with a weed whacker, "Hey, don't do that right here right now, it'll throw grass all over everything..." which of course it did! | How is it that no one saw this chair fall off?? (And was this Mama guarding it or waiting to see if anyone claimed it?) | there may have been threats of bodily harm… Max had the camera and wouldn't quit so Joseph called him "Papa- razzi;" |
But suddenly, everyone was exhausted. It was time to take a break, change gears, relax, refresh, prepare for the next step in this unforgettable day.
For me, the next step involved ironing a very lovely linen dress which had been safely sequestered in a (very small!) zip lock bag for a few days! I headed back across the river one more time to find what I needed for the job, and although the electric managed to go off midway...
Max spoke words from the Word for each of them, for Joseph from Genesis 49 and for Meredith from Mary's song of joyful praise in Luke 1.
Together they braided the cord of three strands, Joseph's strand dark brown, the color of the earth, Meredith's strand purely, simply white, and the golden strand of God to intertwine, connect, strengthen the bond which none shall break.
Looking back, we could see the beautiful threads
with which He was weaving the tapestry of their lives right up to this day,
this moment,
this place.
And looking forward? The same will be true.
God will make a way.