Wednesdays Wedding Planning - No "I" in team.

Are you married, been married or getting married? Ever feel like you just want to skip it all and just get married now. I (Josh) have seriously given some thought to how we could expedite our wedding and just get married now. Patience isn't a virtue of mine but it is something I seem to always be working on. I don't think it is all that selfish to want to just start our married lives together and I think we could get married now and it wouldn't be a bad thing. But then I realize just how much is left to do. True there is the flowers and the cake and the tuxes and so on but there is also the housing situation and the packing and moving and honeymoon and budget and everything else that goes along with it.

There is also the guests. Someone once told me that Weddings and Funerals were not for those people the ceremony was being performed for but rather for those attending. A Father walking his only daughter down the aisle, two families joining together and in our situation, two children that I believe need to have this stake put in the ground to show that things are changing. Two children that have only known life with me for the past five plus years who are learning what it is like to have this wonderful woman join in our lives. I think the symbolism of the wedding ceremony will be very important for them as we join this family together.

I also heard a new way of understanding marriage at last weekends church service. I am committing my life to Katie but I am also making a covenant with God about how I will treat this woman. That's a pretty big deal. So while I do wish we could elope or at least move up the ceremony I think we have plenty to do to have it ready by June. The planning has been pretty stagnant for the last few weeks but our relationship has been far from that. We have had some important and encouraging talks with each other. We have had to come to some decisions together and have failed at that but learned what we did wrong and how to do it better the next time.

have you ever been on a team or watched one play? Have you ever seen them practice together the first time? A championship team does not start out that way, usually they start off awkward as they learn their strengths and weakness and those of their teammates and how to assist each other. It isn't that a championship team doesn't have any weaknesses, it is that they know and understand those weakness and how to support each other so that they can conquer everything. It is the same with marriage, it isn't that we don't each have weaknesses but it is that we understand them and we learn how to work together to become stronger. Once you find a teammate that will play alongside you the entire game, you can't let go of them. They may become injured but it is your duty to come alongside them and offer your strength as they heal. If you leave them behind you will fail. If you stop with them the opposition will get ahead but if you help them you may have set backs but you will still be in the game together. Be there for each other always but keep moving even when there are injuries. Lift each other up and carry each others burdens. That is what we are doing and it is what we will continue to do and because of that we will be a championship team.