May
6
2022
A Unique Ceremony Of Unity
Posted in Marriage 4 Comments
My youngest daughter got married last weekend.
She married her best friend.
She married someone who was part of their same friend group in college.
They had not dated until after they graduated.
They were just friends for the longest time.
The summer after graduation, my daughter was a mercy ministry intern in Philadelphia.
Soon we heard that this young man came to visit her a few times.
Just friends was beginning to change into more than friends.
For two years, they got to know each other after college.
They both worked.
They both had their own apartment about a half hour away from each other.
They saw each other on weekends and went for hikes, which is what they love to do.
I remember when he texted me to see if he could come over to talk to my husband and I.
I knew what he wanted to talk about.
I knew he was going to ask for permission.
He came and we sat for two hours at the kitchen table.
He asked my husband for permission to marry our daughter.
Permission was given.
My husband welcomed him into the family.
It would be a few weeks before he actually asked her, since he had something planned.
Our daughter always wanted to see a sunrise from the top of a mountain.
Her soon-to-be fiance grew up in New Hampshire.
They have hiked there whenever they went up to visit his family.
He knew just the spot.
He scheduled an early morning hike; the location was shared with his sister and her husband.
They set off early in the morning before it was light.
His sister and brother-in-law were unseen, about fifteen minutes behind them.
When they got up to a gorgeous vista, they sat there with their thermos of coffee.
Little did she know what was about to happen.
While she looked at something in the distance, he got down on one knee.
She was totally surprised.
The whole engagement was filmed by his sister from a distance.
The incognito videographers went down the mountain before they could be seen.
It is wonderful that they have that moment.
To hear her total surprise and see her pure joy is something I treasure.
An eleven month engagement followed.
The last day of April was their wedding.
It was a glorious spring day.
The wedding was held in a beautiful garden at an estate with 300 years of history.
The reception was inside a totally renovated tobacco barn.
After they said their vows, they had a unity ceremony.
There are many ways to do a unity ceremony, but theirs was quite unique.
My daughter loves plants.
They bought a beautiful potted plant that was on a small table behind the pastor.
Next to the potted plant were two small mason jars filled with dirt.
One jar contained his soil from New Hampshire.
The other jar contained her soil from Pennsylvania.
While her brother and sister-in-law sang her favorite hymn, they poured the dirt in the plant.
Two were becoming one.
Two locations blended to begin a new home.
Soil from where he grew up mixed with soil from where she grew up.
Both jars of soil mixed with the dirt surrounding the plant in order for it to flourish.
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord‘s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
They are oaks of righteousness.
They are a planting of the Lord.
They are now one.
They will serve Him better together than they ever could apart.
The soil has combined.
With water, sunlight, and lots of nourishment, their plant will thrive.
Growth will happen.
All who know them and love them will reap the benefits of their union.
Gina, that was beautiful…sorry I missed you at church today friend.
Thank you, Janet. I did see you but didn’t get a chance to talk to you.
Blessings and joy,
Gina
Congratulations to the newly weds and the families.
What part of New Hampshire did your new Son-in-Love grow up in? When you talked about a mountain in New Hampshire, my thoughts went to Mt. Washington where my husband and I hiked while he was in the Navy and I was pregnant with our daughter.
Thank you so much for writing Whispers of HIs Movement. i do look forward to reading them since we are fellow Pennsylvanians..
Thank you, Michele. I am so delighted that you enjoy reading Whispers. Fellow Pennsylvanians and sisters in the Lord is a good thing. The engagement took place on Mt. Monadnock. I wonder if you hiked there as well?
Blessings,
Gina