Fresh coffee in the morning. This music. Sitting on a grassy, sunny lawn during my lunch breaks. Josh's delicious smoothies and a little too much TV. Cooking dinner with our friends. Brave. Quiet days at work and the excitement of an upcoming vacation.
Today I am quiet and content. This summer is promising to be the best summer yet.
We got married in North Carolina last year. After the honeymoon in Tennessee, we drove straight back to our little home in Chicago. The drive made it impossible to carry the top layer of our wedding cake, but my mom saved the day by wrapping it up perfectly, freezing it, and bringing it to us in her suitcase this past May! (Our cake has literally flown across state lines!) Last night, we dug in.
Our wedding was one year ago. Time flies, doesn't it? We celebrated by eating dinner at our favorite little café on the Gold Coast, taking cheesecake to go, exchanging letters and opening mail from loved ones, and completely forgetting to cut into our frozen wedding cake... hehe. (Tonight, it is!) Our first year as husband and wife was phenomenal, packed with travels and time with friends, new jobs, a new car, a college graduation, and so much more. Everyone said that our first year would be hard. Really, though... it was a breeze. We are blessed, we are in love, and as we toasted in the lamplight last night...
"...looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him... so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."
It's enough to drive a man crazy; it'll break a man's faith
It's enough to make him wonder if he's ever been sane
When he's bleating for comfort from Thy staff and Thy rod
And the heaven's only answer is the silence of God
It'll shake a man's timbers when he loses his heart
When he has to remember what broke him apart
This yoke may be easy, but this burden is not
When the crying fields are frozen by the silence of God
And if a man has got to listen to the voices of the mob
Who are reeling in the throes of all the happiness they've got
When they tell you all their troubles have been nailed up to that cross
Then what about the times when even followers get lost?
'Cause we all get lost sometimes...
There's a statue of Jesus on a monastery knoll
In the hills of Kentucky, all quiet and cold
And He's kneeling in the garden, as silent as a stone
All His friends are sleeping and He's weeping all alone
And the man of all sorrows, he never forgot
What sorrow is carried by the hearts that he bought
So when the questions dissolve into the silence of God
The aching may remain, but the breaking does not
The aching may remain, but the breaking does not
In the holy, lonesome echo of the silence of God
Two of our dear friends got married in southern Illinois this weekend! The ceremony was just beautiful, and though there were a few scares with the rain, the day was truly a success.
One of the highlights of the reception was a live bluegrass band and
square dancing! It was simply exhilarating to spin round and round,
barefoot in the grass, linking arms with so many smiling people. My
calves are still sore! :)
Did you attend any weddings this weekend, friends?
