We’ve been wedding planning, my daughter and I. The flowers were the perfect shades of pink, the dessert carefully chosen (not too sweet, but with a hint of almond), the music just right, and then there were the words. Beautiful, powerful words that snuck up on me and made me cry through my smile. It was a perfect moment in time, when all was right with the world. The agenda that had seemed so important earlier in the day had evaporated as vapor. The list of to-dos and waiting laundry, so recently weighing down my soul, were briskly plucked from their unrightful place of power. The urgency of that which was temporal had been replaced, if only for a moment, with that which is beautiful, truthful, and eternal.
We conspired on the back porch, my beauty nestled tightly against me. The boys were away and the house was quiet. With excited anticipation, we had talked of this moment almost every night for the last few weeks. The time had finally come to finish our book, and the moment was bittersweet. As we read the last chapter, I was surprised by my tears. I had been touched down deep in a place that was usually reserved for grown-up, real-life situations. But this little girls’ book, so full of life and laughter, had struck a tender spot in my heart – I could hardly finish.
We sipped our tea and nibbled our scones, my sweet girl smiling her toothy grin and chuckling at her mom. We ate, we drank, we listened, we felt deeply. We experienced a taste of joy. It was sacred ground. For this, we were made. We are wedding planners.
“What would happen if we did invite our children into our theology, to dance, to improvise, to play and to draw beautifully? You see, it does have to do with the Gospel, in our true identity as the heirs of Christ, as princes and princesses of the Great King. The Feast is to come, the Wedding about to start.
A wedding is planned: and it will require all of our senses, and all of the arts. What wedding have you attended that did not include all of the arts: dance, poetry, design, fashion, culinary crafts? By advocating for the arts, we are planning for the Cosmic Wedding to come. Christians are wedding planners.” Makoto Fujimura
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Betsy-Tacy… wonderful!! Those are some of my favorite books. I have several sitting on my bookshelf right next to me.
When I was a little girl I would always ask my mother to get “Betsy’s Wedding” from the library when I was sick, so I could read it when I stayed home from school.
Elizabeth – Yes, the books are delightful. We’re pacing ourselves, so we haven’t made it to “Betsy’s Wedding” yet. The last chapter in “Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown” undid me. So very dear.