The Engagement

Yesterday afternoon our oldest son, Benjamin, asked the love of his life to become his wife. The setting was perfect: on the Hawk Beach, Cape Sable Island with the endless Atlantic ocean before them. They were surrounded by all of God's beauty and with the rain coming down, Verny gave him the answer he was hoping for. With that answer and the placing of a diamond ring on her finger, the two made a promise to love each other forever. Now the planning begins and in just over a year they will make their vows to each other and to God and they will become one flesh. A family will begin, a continuation of the Pass family, but the beginning of a family unit of their own.

An engagement is a beginning, a promise of a future together, a time of planning and sharing. It is a time of great happiness and expectation. It is a wonderful time. This morning as I was reflecting on Ben and Verny's engagement, I was reminded of how different Mary and Joseph's engagement was. They were a young couple with plans and dreams as well and yet their engagement took on a different meaning when Mary was visited by the angel of the Lord and told she would become the mother of God's own Son.(Luke 1:28-38)

When Mary's pregnancy was discovered, Joseph was encouraged by family and friends to end the engagement. But Joseph was told in a dream not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife and to go ahead with the wedding. Joseph could have listened to outside influences but he didn't because he loved his future wife and he loved God. He knew his dream was a message from God so he listened and married Mary and raised Jesus as his son knowing that he had been chosen by God to be the earthly father of God's Son.
(Matthew 1:18-25)

When our children were growing up we told them that we only had two requirements for their future mates: 1. that they would love the Lord with all their hearts and 2. that they would love them more than any other person on earth. I don't care about anything else because nothing else really matters. Without those two requirements any marriage is headed for trouble. Education, money, position or anything else can't make a marriage but love for each other and for God can. Joseph loved Mary enough to go against conventional wisdom and advice and follow God's leading for his life. That's true love. When there is true love between two people and they have God in their relationship, their love will last.

God will bless Ben and Verny's marriage, as He blessed Joseph's and Mary's, because they both have followed God's leading.