Weddings and Babies!

This spring and summer is shaping up to be the season of weddings and babies! There is a lot to look forward to! And it occurs to me to write a few lines to help us make the most of these days of blessing. May I suggest four activities that we, as a church family, take up during this season (and whenever there is a birth or a wedding amongst us)?

1. Rejoice. “Rejoice with those who rejoice” says Paul in Romans 12:15. And there are few occasions for rejoicing that are on par with a wedding or a birth! And so let’s make sure we are a part of the enjoyment, both in our own hearts, and as we participate publicly in various celebrations. Let’s enjoy these moments!

2. Pray. Joyful as weddings and births are, they are also the launch points for tremendous responsibility! It is no small thing to enter into a relationship in which the goal is to be a living, breathing reminder of the relationship between Christ and His bride! Nor is it a light thing to raise children, and to do so “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). And so these couples need the support of our prayers!  And, not only do marriage and children come with significant responsibility, but they are sometimes just plain hard, too. Marriage is not all roses and beautiful music! And child rearing, we soon realize, can be exhausting. Both are worth it! Both are definitely worth it! But both require great help from the Lord, do they not? And so let’s make sure we pray for these soon-to-be newlyweds! Let’s pray for these moms and dads! And then let’s pray, too, for the health – physical and spiritual – of the newborn children themselves. And let’s pray for all the marriages, all the parents, and all the children here at Pleasant Ridge!

3. Serve. Since these are tall tasks these couples are entering into (marriage and child-rearing), let’s make sure we give them all the hands on help we can, too! Wise counsel and godly example to fledgling couples. Gifts that will help them (newlyweds and parents) get started along their way. Meals after childbirth. Offers to help with laundry, and housework, and other children while mommy re-acclimates to the care of a newborn. And so on!

4. Reflect. Weddings, marriage, childbirth, and children – all of these things are fraught with gospel reminders. God’s eternal kingdom will be a wedding feast – “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:9); the celebration of Christ having His bride at His side! Think of that as you enjoy these upcoming weddings and receptions! They are a little portrait of the heavenly glory! And the marriages that are being formed are, themselves, portraits of the ongoing relationship between Christ and His church. A husband giving himself for his wife, as Christ has done for the church; and the wife submitting to and following her husband, as the church does to Christ (Ephesians 5:22-32)! Think of these things as you ponder the marriages soon to be formed (and as as you ponder other marriages, too)! And when the children are born, realize that this first birth teaches us something about the second birth! As our parents have brought us into the world by physical conception and birth, so we need God to bring us to life spiritually through a new birth (John 3:1-8)! And when we think of children, in general – and of how much we parents love them – we should reflect on God’s great love for us who, in Christ, are His children (Psalm 103:13)!

So then, four good ways to spend your time this spring and summer – “rejoic[ing] with those who rejoice”; praying for husbands, wives, moms, dads, and babies; serving them; and reflecting on how these various blessings of marriage and family point us to the even higher covenant blessings that are ours in Christ!