I’m not known for being optimistic, but when I chose our wedding reception location I was banking on the fact that rain wouldn’t be in the forecast.
Optimism has never worked well for me.
It didn’t just rain… it poured.
And the rain didn’t come alone. It brought a tornado warning as well.
The reception, which was supposed to be half-outside, was instead crammed into a tiny building with a tin roof. Did I mention it was also on top of a mountain? Not the location the fire department recommends in case of a tornado.
My vision of this perfect, sunny reception overlooking a gorgeous vineyard didn’t work out like I hoped. Instead, I watched hundreds of guests stand shoulder-to-shoulder, terrified of the impending storm.
My first thought when I saw the grey skies that day was, “What did I do wrong, God?!”
As a (recovering) control-freak and (slight) drama-queen it didn’t make any sense. I worked my tail off planning this wedding and I made sure to put in an early appeal for no rain. I definitely did not request severe thunderstorms.
But since it was my wedding day and I had my hair and make-up done so nicely I decided I might as well continue the optimism just a few hours longer. I made the conscious decision to stop focusing on my somewhat miserable guests who stood crammed like sardines, and enjoy my first dance with my new husband.
As soon as the dance ended, half of our guests high-tailed it out of there and the ones that stuck around had to scream the rest of the night to hear each other over the thunder. Instead of the sparkler exit I was so excited for, we ended up being almost the last to leave and we got soaked in the process.
It was perfect.
Before you brides-to-be have a heart attack as you imagine your wedding day going anything like mine, let me tell you why I’m thankful it rained:
It was a beautiful picture of the commitment Brandon and I were choosing to make.
And somehow in that moment, I knew that celebrating with Brandon during the rain was something that we would be doing on a much deeper level for the rest of our lives.
We are only 13 months into this being-married thing and we have had some storms already.
The first storm made me want to high-tail it out to avoid the tornado.
But then I remembered the commitment I made that rainy Saturday and decided this is what it means when we said for better or for worse.
Sunny days are wonderful. But rainy days are frequent. And we can run from the thunder or we can hold each other tighter.
It’s not easy. Most of the time storms pull us apart. And many times it seems like it’s the other person’s fault.
But thank God that God designed marriage to be about more than sunny days.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t actually get wedding invitations and then do a rain dance until the wedding day - that would be mean, and a really weird pastime…
But if you do end up having a little rain on your wedding day, I hope you don’t let it upset you. I hope you can smile and be thankful that the commitment you are making is about more than the weather… and it’s even about more than each other. It’s about love that’s deeper than emotion. Love that is only possible because of a God who loves us so dearly. Love that rain doesn’t water down, but that rain strengthens.
I hope it rains on your wedding day.
“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Mark 10:7-9)
Jordan Sok is a 20-something writer, Christian and newlywed. Her personal blog encourages her readers to “embrace the awkward,” because the way she sees it, a lot of “awkwardness” is simply feeling uncomfortable because something is out of the norm. And maybe that is a good thing. Her blog focuses on a mixture of topics surrounding the 20-something Christian life- the good, the bad, and the funny. Oh, and the awkward.
Publication date: September 27, 2016