I Do

At SPU we have this little motto.  It goes like this:

RING BY SPRING.

It's pretty self-explanatory.  The couples who are 20 get engaged and get married.  I personally find it to be a horrible and unnatural thing, but that's just me.  There was an exception on Monday, the 17th of August, though.

Ben Rowe and Hannah Balenda decided to tie the knot.  Age 19 and 20 and they decided to get married.  Their engagement and wedding was one of the most beautiful ones I had ever seen, though, and it took me a long time to figure out why.  Why were they so special? Why wasn't this wedding so frighteningly young and fast like all the other SPU engagements?  

They simply aren't average people.  They're artsy, counter cultural kids and they are best friends.  I got to know the two of them much better over the course of their engagement and I realized that their love was based on a very deep friendship.  They had dated since high school and half of that was long distance.  If high schoolers can make a long distance relationship last, they must be doing something right.  Listening to Ben tell me about why he loves Hannah, I realized how perfect they are for each other and how this marriage is so right and not frightening.  And listening to Hannah's side of the story was beautiful as well.  She met him during the one year she moved away from Seattle to Texas and they kept their relationship strong when she moved back out here.  God works in mysterious ways, even down in Texas, I suppose.  They are such a beautiful couple and their wedding was a beautiful affair.    

Ben and Hannah and a very small number of their closest friends and family paraded down to a public beach north of Seattle.  Their were blankets and driftwood laid out as our seating for the ceremony and we all sat as Ben and Hannah proceeded with a short, traditional ceremony.  The sun was setting behind them and it cast a beautiful glow upon their faces that were already lit up by their happiness.  There was not a wedding party or a flower girl or a choir.  All they needed were their friends and family watching as they took a step into a huge new part of their lives.  The parents gave their blessing, they exchanged their vows and rings and then they became Ben and Hannah Rowe.  It was simple and it was all about them and their love for one another.  

At the reception, we played a song that Ben wrote specifically for his wedding.  There was art displayed on the walls that their friends had made.  The carrot cake was made by Ben's brother. There was a movie that Ben and Hannah made describing the story behind their wedding invitation.  And everyone was sitting at tables, eating ice-cream and hanging out.  When I sat down next to Ben and asked if he was happy, his response was "I feel so at peace right now. I feel great." And when I asked Hannah the same question, she simply said, "This is exactly what we wanted it to be. I'm really happy"  

So, as they enter this new stage in their lives, they now know that we are all with them each step of the way.  Their love for each other will continue to grow and their relationships with their friends and family will deepen.  That's what a wedding should be about.  Not DJs, dance halls or a three course dinner, but about the relationships that are growing and being nurtured by love.