Christmas in July

The day is drawing near. There is anticipation. There is excitement. There is a fleeting sense of reality and an increasing sense of a dream-like state.

The day after our engagement as Hunter and I drove to Louisville for a conference, we talked about the feelings of anticipation. Conveniently enough, we had just listened to a sermon on Christmas. It mentioned the feelings of hopeful anticipation for the day itself. The ABC 25 Days of Christmas Countdown begins, the turkey is eaten and Christmas music can finally be shamelessly played, and the decorations are in full force. But it’s not just Christmas day that we are preparing for. We are preparing for the birth of a Savior.

The danger in just preparing for the day itself is the sense of emptiness that will follow when that day is over. If our hope is just in the event, we will feel a deep disappointment following the conclusion of it. I hope this doesn’t sound too bleak, but it really is a serious matter to miss the point of the celebration. The good news in all of this is that after the day is over, we get Jesus. He isn’t born on Christmas and then vanishes 24 hours later when the day is over. He remains.

Yes, this is July. And yes, I have just compared our wedding day to Christmas, but soak up the incredible parallel that it provides.

Our marriage is not a wedding.      

And it’s not just a wedding day we are preparing for; it’s a till-death-do-we-part covenant.

The wedding ceremony begins our marriage but we do not cease to be married after the day has ended. When we wake up the next morning, July 23^rd, and it is no longer our wedding day, we are still indeed very wedded. The covenant doesn’t end when the wedding ends.

The tragedy of putting our hope in the wedding day is not only the disappointment that will follow, but also a serious lack of preparation. –It’s no different in preparing for Christmas day by hanging lights and garland, but forgetting to prepare your heart for the Christ Himself.

As we move forward to this incredibly joyous celebration, we remind ourselves that our end is not the celebration itself. It is in the covenant that we make to sanctify and selflessly serve each other until we are brought home to Christ, who is our ultimate end. Our lives begin with Christ, the Savior born on Christmas day, and our lives end with Christ.  

Lord, please keep our minds on the covenant we are making before each other and before you. Protect us from getting caught up in the excitement of the celebration and missing the point of what we are celebrating. Use the next 11 days, not merely as a waiting period, but to continue to prepare us and teach us about the gravity of the commitment we are making. And as we process the gravity of it, keep us from despair and remind us that it’s not ourselves that will make this marriage work, but it is Christ who holds all things together.