'Tis the Marrying Season

            In a couple of weeks school will be out and the month of June will be upon us.  Now, I’ve never understood the reason for it all, but in the hearts and minds of many women is the desire to be a June bride.  I suppose if I dug deep enough into the traditions of marriage in our society I would eventually find an explanation for this.

            Recently, there has been a great deal of press coverage concerning Jennifer Wilbanks, the young woman in Georgia who ran off a few days before her wedding. She eventually, turned up in New Mexico and made several false claims about what happened to her.  In each case, she recanted the claim soon thereafter. As of this past Friday, she has released an official apology to all those who were inconvenienced in any way by her actions.

            Sometimes, I find myself wishing that more brides, and grooms too, would run away before the marriage ceremony.  I read somewhere recently that the average cost of a wedding in this country in 2002 was over $22,000.00!  And that was just for an average sized wedding.  The cost alone would make me want to run, but my concern is not financial.

            There was an article soon after Ms Wilbanks surfaced that quoted some of her neighbors as describing her actions as the “most selfish thing anyone has ever done.”  And I understand where those people are coming from, but I must disagree.

            Scripture in many places tells us that marriage is a covenant, a sacred union of man and woman as husband and wife. When Jesus was asked why Moses allowed divorce, his reply was:  “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives…” (Matthew 19:8). 

I wish more brides and grooms to be, would take the time to seriously evaluate what they are about to do so that when a marriage occurs, it has a better than 50-50 chance of success. To know in your heart that you are making a mistake right up to the moment when you say “I do” is the best reason in the world for a bride or groom to say “I don’t.” 

Perhaps, we do our children and grandchildren a disservice when we insist that they go through a huge wedding ceremony between two people who are more concerned about not embarrassing family and friends.  Maybe we would be better off to encourage our loved ones that a simple ceremony between two people who plan to commit every day of the rest of their lives to one another in love, is better.  Maybe we all need to remember the difference between a contract, which is easily broken; and a covenant before God, which requires work but can endure and thrive in the best and worst of times.  I hope and I pray that all of us consider seriously the vows we make on our wedding day.