The way it should be

September 16, 2008

I am just returning from an amazing weekend in Cordele, GA, watermelon capital of the world. Cordele is the home of my great friend Molly and her fantastic family. Each fall in college, on the way to the GA/FL game in Jacksonville, we'd stop in Cordele for a few days. We'd ride four wheelers, ride on the boat as Molly flipped 180's on the wakeboard, watch girly movies in the barn and just enjoy life where you can actually see the stars at night. So it was fitting that we trudge down 75 for another weekend in Cordele to see our girl marry her guy.

Molly's parents built their home on the edge of Lake Blackshear. It is breathtaking there, just a very natural, humble lake. Friday we helped Molly set up her 200 white chairs under the trees and re-set them up 4 times as the OCD McW sisters got the angles just right ;) We swatted away gnats and helped her prepare for her wedding day. I can honestly say that despite planning for a day at the pool, I would not have changed anything. It felt wonderful to feel a PART of the wedding, instead of just as guest in a bridesmaid dress. I felt like I was doing what bridesmaids were always intended to do, help a beautiful girl prepare for her day and her life with a pretty cute boy.

So, Saturday morning, us five gals got up and put on our lime green dresses and prayed that the gnats were still asleep. And they were. The wind blew. The water lapped up against the dock, making a beautiful noise that the most expensive sound machine can't mimic; the dew dried and the day began. I took a minute before the guests began to arrive and looked outside of her parents' home. Molly's dad had found 2 large pieces of wood. He tied them in the form of a cross and grouted it into the ground, on the lake's edge. All I saw looking out was a beautiful green lawn, the light reflecting off of the lake, and a cross, the altar her daddy made for her wedding day. It was beyond words. Even for me.

I walked upstairs to see our bride. The bridesmaids gathered around her and held hands. We each prayed in turn for her life, for her marriage to Whit and in thanksgiving for her as our friend and for the priviledged role we each had in sharing this day with her. Her wedding day started as each of her days started, in prayer and thanksgiving. And then the party started!

The day was magical. It was exactly as wedding should be. Molly and Whit's sole purpose in marrying and sharing this day was to glorify and praise God. It was to bring their families and closest friends in one place, on that beautiful, natural altar to, as our dear friend Space sang, to 'praise the King. Praise the King'.

And Praise the King we did. I am sure of it. I cannot imagine how pleased he was as he looked down and smiled at Whit's tears, Molly's gigantic grin, and a few bridesmaids just trying not to sob in sheer happiness for our friend.

Molly and Whit~congrats my sweet friends. In this season of weddings, thank you for showing me exactly what it should be.



Peace~