Strings Attached

and Ready for the Envelopes.

We didn’t send out invitations.  Anna and Justin’s wedding will be so small and intimate that printed invitations were barely necessary.   We joyfully asked those very close to us if they could please join us on that day.

And instead we are sending out little booklets to those who could join us.  And they have strings attached.  Lavender ribbons. 

There Are Strings Attached to This

When someone says, “strings attached”  my mind quickly goes to figurative strings rather than the literal tie ’em in a bow sort of strings.

Around here we usually aim for living string free.  Dirt never cottoned to the idea and I grew up tripping on seen and unseen strings, it is an uncomfortable and awkward way to live.  So we try to keep one another clean of strings.  When we give gifts, we let them go, whatever the recipient chooses to do with it, it is their gift.  And we avoid bribing, not just with our young children at home but our grown ones and our friends as well. 

But sometimes strings are unavoidable.  These non-invitaitons come with strings. Because the verbal invitation came with strings.

Strings of Participation

It says right in the little booklet on the center page that we, the Vicks and the Coulters and many of those in our company, believe in the priesthood of all believers.  In our gatherings all are called to participate how the Holy Spirit leads them.  

 Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.  1 Corithians 14:26

That is how we view a wedding being as well.  Much like our simple gatherings; no prescribed day of the week, no set formula, no weekly rehearsed songs or “messages”,  just us, being lead by the Holy Spirit.  And the leading can be at that moment or in advance.

The booklet, non-invitation, could appear to have strings of participation in that regard, that when a person comes, as an invited participant, that they realize that the Holy Spirit could give them a nudge to say something, read something, or sing something even.  No one has to.  Well, unless the Holy Spirit is telling them so and they would like to sleep in peace.  The Holy Spirit can be ignored, for a bit, or at a person’s slight discomfort. 

Second String

But just as important as the first string mentioned, the other string is much like the first, a string of participation.  

Dirt and I have always felt, from our first daughter’s wedding ’til now, that those we invite are those who we hope will fulfill their communal duty and hold our children accountable to what they say on their wedding day.  What our children say, what they sign, what they agree to.

In our world, a wedding guest  is not just a wedding guest, “sign in here, drop the present there, listen to this, eat, dance a bit, now bye-bye.”  We ask folks to join us to be witnesses to the declarations made by the couple and upheld by all, not just the pretty girls in matching dresses or the fellas in tuxes. 

Yes, legally the state only requires two witnesses and quite frankly that would be fine if that is all a couple had, but we like the phrase, “the more the merrier”  or “safer” as the case may be.  Over the years Dirt and I can see that we owe our marriage, not just to the reconcilling power of Christ, but also to those around us, folks willing to speak up or even cast a skewed glance our way.

We also cherish the help, when it was most helpful, prior to any real trouble, just ungodly thinking.  Folks, who through casual conversation even, pointed us in the direction that God would have us take in our marriage rather than listening to the world “lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” Colossians 2:8.

These are the few people that we have asked to come be with us this day that lays ahead of Justin and Anna, and their family, people who are not only in the postion to hold them to the Truth of God but also those who are willing and not clouded by what they see in the world to actually act on their understanding of God and marriage.

Those are the strings attached here at Victory Farm and Gardens.

You should go see what the rest of the header challenge group came up with for this week’s “strings attached” challenge.  Please go visit the other participants:  Dave, Fishing_Guy,  Mac, and Gail’s Man.  Say hi and how much you liked their idea of strings attached.  Wonder if we’ll see some hot air balloon pictures?