The Stories of Our Lives

It’s wedding season.  I did a wedding last Saturday and I’ll do another one this Saturday.  I have two more scheduled this summer.  Some pastors aren’t all that thrilled about doing weddings--in fact, some pastors have a lot of war stories about weddings.  But I really enjoy them, and I can honestly say I’ve never had a bad experience with a wedding.  That’s not to say everything came off perfectly--it rarely does.  But as I like to say, if anything goes wrong, it will just be a story that the couple will tell in years to come.  It’s not a problem.

But what I really enjoy about weddings is getting to hear people’s stories.  It’s fascinating to me how two people get together.  Sometimes people have known each other forever, sometimes they’ve only known each other for a short time.  Sometimes people have grown up in the same way and have similar backgrounds, sometimes they’ve grown up in far different families, maybe even different cultures.  Sometimes people have lived in the same town all their lives, sometimes they’ve lived half a world apart.  And yet, somehow, they’ve found each other, and they’re convinced that this is the person they want to spend the rest of their life with.

You know, when you think about it, it’s really kind of an awesome thing, the way two people find each other.  I think about Wanda and me.  We’re different in a lot of ways.  I love sports--Wanda’s not interested in them.  Wanda loves arts and crafts--they hold no interest for me at all.  Wanda loves classic country music--I love 70s soft rock.  I love old comedies--Wanda loves the romantic movies they run on the Hallmark Channel.

Just to look at us, you’d think we really did not have a lot in common.  And yet, we’ll have our thirtieth anniversary this year, and Wanda shows no signs of throwing me out.  It’s kind of an amazing thing, really.

And I truly believe that God was involved in getting us together.  First, there was the matter of getting us to the same town, Pierre.  Then, both our offices moved, so we were working in the same building.  Then, not knowing I was there, Wanda took an apartment right across from mine.  She did not live there long, because they raised the rent and she could not afford it.  But it was long enough for us to get together.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

The thing is that every married couple has a story.  Every married couple, and every couple that’s going to get married, has a special and unique history.  And part of the fun of doing weddings is getting to know that history.  And then, having been lucky enough to stay in the same parish for several years, I get the fun of watching the couple grow in their lives together.

I hope, of course, that every marriage I do will last “till death do you part”.  I have no way to know that, of course.  But if both parties to the marriage are committed to it, and if they’re both committed to make God a part of it, then their chances are pretty good.  That’s what Wanda and I have tried to do.  And I hope that’s what all the couples I marry will do, too.