one more week

There are so many thoughts and feelings I have as I approach this last week before Rachael's wedding.
There is the temptation to regret how inadequate an example I have been. There is the tendency to panic over the few details yet to be decided.
There is the desire to have time stand still; the desire not to let her go even though I can't keep her.

But as is true of all of life, it isn't about me.

These weaknesses of mine move to the rear when I realize how God has prepared Rachael for this step in her life. She is not a piece of fluff entering the whirlwind of marriage. She has been pruned, filed, sanded, gouged, fired, buffeted by people and circumstances and consequences God brought her way so that she is strong and capable and as ready anyone can be. The obstacles she has overcome in the past two years astound me.

Was I any more ready at 28 than she is at 21? Less, I would say.

So, it really comes down to God. It always does! He has prepared her for this. Rachael learned how to live in an imperfect family. Imperfect as we are, she loves us. That is preparation for loving others. She, better than the rest of us, I dare say, has learned how to forgive.
She is marrying her best friend. That friendship, already 8+ years old will stand them in good stead. Rachael and Andrew have learned how to talk to each other; they have learned how to talk with each other. They both have a friendship with God that binds them together.

There are many other reasons for a soaring heart on this day that marks a week before my daughter's wedding. I offer them all to God with gratitude for his loving gift to her of Himself as well as giving her as her husband, a very good man.