Waiting for Godot

Written August 25, 2018

Today is wedding day for 250 or so close family, and assorted near and distant, all dear, extended family and friends who are winging in to Minnesota for the wedding of our granddaughter Anna to her beloved Nathan in the pristine, white-washed halls of the Wayzata Church our daughter Kristen - mother of the bride - has served so humbly and so well these past 31 years.

The long-expected day is today, and suddenly, as I sit a safe distance from the main entrance of our Covenant Village to watch for arriving family for Bistro lunch here before heading for church, I am suddenly drawn into the occasionally-connecting communication system of our two cell phones and not much more.

Mercifully, it is a little resting time for me, as I just wait - and watch.  All of us are counting down to zero hour when we will hear the familiar sound of the Wedding March, or maybe the magnificent organ accompaniment from the Salzburg Cathedral in "The Sound of Music."

Tension mounts, but all are trying to be on their best behavior, getting themselves formally dressed, and their hearts ready to witness the vow of a lifetime to be taken by two wonderful young people.

Gradually, they gather.  We crowd in at a table in the new Bistro of our retirement village.  And then, off to the wedding.

As it turns out, it is more than any of us imagined: deeply spiritual, full of faith, scripture carefully read, wistful hymns sung, charges of faith and commitment spoken.  We couldn't help but know: "This is serious business" to take on another - for life.  For everything in life, including faithfulness to each other alone "until death do us part."

Oh, such good words.  Such a sobering reminder of what life is.  Of what it is to give your life to another, before God.  Suddenly realizing God is the critical factor - THE ELEMENT that counts the most, in all the years.

He is the ONE Who gives meaning to our life, to "the living of these days," to adventure of each day that dawns upon us, as the GREAT GIFT from God's hand.