My heart is bursting with gratitude as I sit to write my
first blog post since I reached out to all of my “old souls” at least a year
ago. Those “old souls” are probably now ancient and I am now an “old ball and
chain” aka… a wife!!
Friends, I wish that you could take a tour of my heart
because a simple, yet public letter of thanksgiving will not adequately
describe the how freaking honored I am to you who partied on down to Nola to
watch Jared and I get married.
I hear that the ceremony was beautiful and that the party
was amazing. The day passed so quickly for me that I will simply have to go off
my snapshot memory and your crazy stories. But amidst all of the fun, those who
attended our wedding reflected something so much deeper. Yes, our guests became
a tangible illustration of the unifying and creative nature of love and they didn’t
even know it! Allow me to explain.
Love by its nature
unites. Rest assured that if there is disunity or isolation, there is lack of
love.
For one day, our guests came from everywhere to be unified
in the celebration of Jared and me committing to a permanent love. There was no
discord among those who attended because the celebration was more important. I
know (because I invited them) that there are major differences in the
lifestyles and beliefs held by our friends and family. On the day of our wedding
however, it didn’t matter; the love between Jared and I became a source of
unity and the response was the union of our loved ones who would otherwise have
never met. Our guests illustrated perfect unity.
Love by its nature
much increase upon itself. If love will not expand, it is a counterfeit (like
lust or utility).
Our guests increased our love 100% (literally, there were
two of us and there were 200 of them!) They made our love so much larger by
adding to it their own love through their participation. Their prayers
increased our prayers as they witnessed our commitment before God. They magnified
our joy by eating, drinking and dancing on our behalf and they publicized the
official Mr. and Mrs. Smyth as they paraded in the streets literally announcing
to the tune Mardi Gras horns, sparklers and umbrellas that Jared and I are
married! Imagine Jared and I doing all of that alone. While I wouldn’t put it
past us, it would have been ridiculous. Love NEEDS to have more of itself in
order to be legitimate. Our guest were the multiplication of our love.
Finally, love is by
its nature completely faithful. If love is not committed, it can not be love.
Our friends were completely faithful to Jared and I on the
day of our wedding. Some flew (in some cases across the Atlantic), some drove,
some arranged work trips to get down to Lousiana and celebrate with us. I am still
floored at the many who attended even if we haven’t seen each other in a few
years whether we have known each other since kindergarten or since college. Our friends were faithful, a complete act of
love.
This matters far beyond my simple wish to be thankful. As
someone who is mostly trying to change the world, I continually see that we
tend to focus on what is wrong with the world and what is wrong with ourselves.
Every time I get on Facebook I am bombarded with naysayers. “Sinner!” They
proclaim, as if a remedy for our imperfections has not already been gifted to us.
If we continue in this battle under the banner of "try to fix yourself because you are doing so much wrong" how
can we continue and who will join us?
You see my friendly reader you were made by the same God who
made the universe and although you may be doing a lot of things wrong; YOU ARE
DOING A LOT OF THINGS RIGHT!! We often think that we are the center of the
universe and that is what drives our selfishness and deceit. The bad and the risqué holds an attraction to our fallen nature but that is not new information. We can not give our imperfections all of our attention or we will miss the ways
that we naturally exude holiness without even trying. When we forget ourselves
for the sake of something greater and nobler, we actually look remarkably like
the God in whose image we were made. That is HOLINESS!! You were made for it
and you sometimes already accomplish it without knowing.
Those attended our wedding were mirrors to the love of our Father and man would not consider themselves
religious. Imagine how far you can go if you recognize the goodness in yourself
for what it really is, your heart leading you to the one true God only in whom
can true fulfillment and perfect goodness can be found. Capitalize on your
goodness, give God your worship and you will become who you were meant to be.
