My wife doesn’t ask for much. But one thing that brings her joy is watching the show “Say Yes to the Dress.” Personally, I could go the rest of my life without ever watching the show again. Like most females, she gets great joy from watching or taking part in anything wedding-oriented. She loves to think back to our own wedding day and can be caught watching the DVD of our ceremony. On this particular show the viewer watches each woman’s journey which includes her personal story, a picture of her future husband, and more. Her mission, in this (shortened for TV) 30-minute time slot, is to find the perfect dress. It has to be a certain type of material, must be made a certain way, it has to fit ‘just right,’ it has to be just the right shade of white (personally, I didn’t realize there were ‘shades” of white–I thought white was, well, white). For many women, months of preparation go into 2 hours of time on a single day that pass so quickly you can barely remember it. While I understand the planning that goes into it, in the grand scheme of things, weddings can get a bit ridiculous. The dress is never worn again. The guy has paid to rent a tux that has to be returned (that he could have paid to buy a new suit). All you’re really left with are a few memories, some pictures taken by an overly priced photographer, and a lot of debt.
Has the couple put that much time into planning the rest of their lives after the wedding? In most cases the focus is more on the party and celebration and less on what comes later. This faulty move lands many in divorce court. But this is how we tend to live our lives, isn’t it? “Buy now, pay later!” is a commonly heard statement used in many commercials. We’re encouraged to appease the flesh and worry about the consequences later. That’s the great American way! This past Sunday our Pastor messed everyone up by having a casket parked right in front of the pulpit during the per-sermon prayer. When everyone opened their eyes it was sitting right there staring us all in the face. Talk about a wake-up call. What would happen if we put just as much effort in to planning for our death as we did for things such as a wedding day? It’s apparent we would spend more time attempting to pray for and lead our unsaved loved ones to Christ. We probably wouldn’t waste our money on half the junk we buy. We would realize there are many things we could live without. 2 Corin 4:17-18 says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Closing remarks and encouragement: Say NO to the dress…..in other words, say no to the fleeting things of the flesh that have no long term value. Place the importance on the things that matter. As I recently heard one of my mentors state, “Your true goals will influence your decisions!” What is influencing you? What is most important to you?
Have a blessed week, my friends!
Side note: I’m not a scrooge about weddings. Please hear my heart and the message I’m trying to get across.