Marriage is like A R T

This is our wedding. That is a blank canvas. But in the covenant of marriage where two individually formed, separate thinking, unique souls come together as one the canvas they begin with is anything but blank. It's got shades and strokes and darkness and brilliance individually their own shaped by decades and in our case decades and decades.

But perhaps, the case could be made, that in committing ourselves in holy covenant, in promising for the now and the future, I WILL...I DO...even though I have very little clue what that means for what is ahead, I SAY YES...the canvas begins anew, fresh. A new piece of art to be made, the intertwining of stories, textures, light and dark.

Mr. F came up with the idea. It was something he saw at a special church service. And y'all know my love of art so this just made me fall all the more in love with this man. The art was our little secret for the ceremony.  In so many ways, it alone became a sacred symbol of what was transpiring. We were making something new together...new life...rebirth....sacred covenant....oneness!

And perhaps my favorite element of this symbol was that it required an instrument of God. A fellow image bearer and reflector of the Creator must humble himself and honor the way he was made, to create beauty!

Meet Ismail.

Friends call him "Ish." I'd heard Ish's name around my CRU circle of friends quite a bit when I was on staff. Then when I moved back to SLO it still came up. Pretty fortuitous eh? So fast forward to Rob's idea and my question, "Great idea hon. Who on earth could we ask?"

Ish.

Ish!!!

I finally got to meet Ish. Humble. Funny. Ruggedly handsome. (shout out to my single lady friends!)

The more we talked that night the giddier I became. Our story is a piece of artwork, stroke by stroke, painted by our Creator. Ish gets to be his hands displaying that splendor!

Does it ever get old people? That God entrusts man...That God calls this very good. That Jesus remade and reshaped us that we might be his hands and feet. That he has unique purposes and allotments for each of us!

Ish said yes. Whatever fear, self doubt, and uncertainty was beat out by grace!

Now here is what you don't know that is happening in this moment. We didn't find out til we picked up the final art piece. In this moment, Ish is painting in faith, not by sight. The original concept he had in mind had to be scrapped on the spot because the easel wasn't cooperating. He was inspired to do this on the spot! 

One brush stroke, upon the other, trusting..abiding in...the story that would be told through his handiwork.

f a i t h .

 

The same faith that says YES to a new life together. The same faith that wakes up everyday with someone in your bed and says YES again to loving, risking, believing in the Greater Story Christ is telling with our lives.

 

And look at all this life going forth! The story of God in us!

 

Truth is I couldn't see much of what Ish was painting throughout the night. I only knew it was happening, l o v e d that it was happening, but my part was totally different than his that night. But his part was essential. That picture, that colorful loveliness, has become a sacred symbol in our home. It is a symbol of the new story of our lives as one. The story of two lives becoming rooted and established in l o v e (Ephesians 3). Two lives trusting in the entwined entanglement where it becomes harder and harder to detect where one ends and the other begins. And. It. Is. Only. Just. The. Beginning.

 See it back there....

 

And at the end of that glorious dessert bar (oh how I adored this Pinterest worthy goodness!)

And there in the back as my new sister-in-law welcomes me into my new family!

 

And this is how it looked by the end of the night....

But look at what it became in the secret. Hidden away from everyone else....

And Ish said yes to the process. And we are saying YES each day to the living out, with this reminder in our home to look at.  The art that draws our hearts back to the day we said YES to whatever chosen colors, brushstrokes, and textures the Lord is painting onto the canvas of our lives as He tells His story uniquely through us.

And He calls this good, very good!

And one more GIANT SHOUT OUT to Ish who says yes each day to being His instrument! We are forever b l e s s e d !