Preparing for the rest of my life...
I have no real way of starting this so I am going to jump in head first.
I have had this beautiful explanation of what an engagement was like in Ruth and Naomi’s lifetime. I am presently finishing the book Shattered Dreams, by Larry Crabb, and am daily blown away by just how much God has packaged into the story of Naomi and Ruth for all of us to learn from. The engagement topic of Boaz and Ruth is one very interesting part of this story and one that I probably would have missed without a wiser man’s direction toward what God tucked away between the lines.
In Shattered Dreams, Crabb describes the true definition of an engagement in four pages of detail and commentary. I have now read those pages countless times and am convicted by what I have learned. Ever since Billy popped the question and all the plans started moving forward, my mind and heart have turned continually to how much preparation a wedding takes. I keep thinking to myself, with every step of this adventure, that, for every second I spend planning the wedding or honeymoon or living situation, I should be spending twice the time preparing my heart and my mind for the marriage, for a life of wife-hood. Crabb’s explanation of an engagement recently confirmed that thought in myself.
He explains that the man and woman would already have been legally bound for one another, set apart for each other without the possibility of seperation, as soon as they became engaged or “betrothed”. One of the professors on campus, Thomas Weakley, also noted a couple of weeks ago that he is disturbed by the number of broken engagements since an engagement should not mean “let’s try this out and if it doesn’t work or something, we’ll break it off” but that, instead, it should mean “we are certain, 100%, that we are going to get married and I am ready to marry you right now”. This is exactly how I feel right now: 100% ready to be Billy’s wife for the rest of my life, led by the peace of God and a commitment we have made before Him.
But there is a preparation process involved no matter how ready we may be to tie the proverbial knot. Crabb goes into detail describing how the man prepares for the woman until they are united without rest while the woman does just that: rest. Yup, the woman rests knowing that her prince is off preparing for her to be his wife and, in the resting period, the woman is spending 100% of her time and efforts on getting ready to be his wife. Well, I don’t know about the rest of you engaged ladies out there but that is something that I definitely need to keep doing more and more. I have a life and school and work so it is hard to make that the center of my activities but I know now who my husband will be. I should be preparing my heart for that specific man. But, though I would run off to the mountains in an instant (and save my parents some major $$$$ in the process), I should be excited right now to be resting and waiting for the day that all of our preparation is complete and we are made husband and wife, prepared for the decades ahead. I should be resting for these next 9 months (now until June, which is the only, ONLY significance of the number 9 here so quite you’re wondering) in preparation of my heart to be the kind of wife that God has called me to be.
I could go on for pages about this but the moral of this rambling story is that I am already set apart for Billy. I am his betrothed. I would not have said yes if I wasn’t certain we will be married. When I look down at my left hand, I am reminded that there is a man who is getting ready for me and I need to be doing the same thing. In the same way that the church should constantly be preparing itself for the promised coming of her heavenly Prince, I should be preparing my heart for the real and ever-approaching union of myself and Billy Johnson. I should be employing the help and direction of the Lord to prepare my mind, heart and spirit for my husband (and I should probably work out a few times, too). So that is what I am gonna do.
I have had this beautiful explanation of what an engagement was like in Ruth and Naomi’s lifetime. I am presently finishing the book Shattered Dreams, by Larry Crabb, and am daily blown away by just how much God has packaged into the story of Naomi and Ruth for all of us to learn from. The engagement topic of Boaz and Ruth is one very interesting part of this story and one that I probably would have missed without a wiser man’s direction toward what God tucked away between the lines.
In Shattered Dreams, Crabb describes the true definition of an engagement in four pages of detail and commentary. I have now read those pages countless times and am convicted by what I have learned. Ever since Billy popped the question and all the plans started moving forward, my mind and heart have turned continually to how much preparation a wedding takes. I keep thinking to myself, with every step of this adventure, that, for every second I spend planning the wedding or honeymoon or living situation, I should be spending twice the time preparing my heart and my mind for the marriage, for a life of wife-hood. Crabb’s explanation of an engagement recently confirmed that thought in myself.
He explains that the man and woman would already have been legally bound for one another, set apart for each other without the possibility of seperation, as soon as they became engaged or “betrothed”. One of the professors on campus, Thomas Weakley, also noted a couple of weeks ago that he is disturbed by the number of broken engagements since an engagement should not mean “let’s try this out and if it doesn’t work or something, we’ll break it off” but that, instead, it should mean “we are certain, 100%, that we are going to get married and I am ready to marry you right now”. This is exactly how I feel right now: 100% ready to be Billy’s wife for the rest of my life, led by the peace of God and a commitment we have made before Him.
But there is a preparation process involved no matter how ready we may be to tie the proverbial knot. Crabb goes into detail describing how the man prepares for the woman until they are united without rest while the woman does just that: rest. Yup, the woman rests knowing that her prince is off preparing for her to be his wife and, in the resting period, the woman is spending 100% of her time and efforts on getting ready to be his wife. Well, I don’t know about the rest of you engaged ladies out there but that is something that I definitely need to keep doing more and more. I have a life and school and work so it is hard to make that the center of my activities but I know now who my husband will be. I should be preparing my heart for that specific man. But, though I would run off to the mountains in an instant (and save my parents some major $$$$ in the process), I should be excited right now to be resting and waiting for the day that all of our preparation is complete and we are made husband and wife, prepared for the decades ahead. I should be resting for these next 9 months (now until June, which is the only, ONLY significance of the number 9 here so quite you’re wondering) in preparation of my heart to be the kind of wife that God has called me to be.
I could go on for pages about this but the moral of this rambling story is that I am already set apart for Billy. I am his betrothed. I would not have said yes if I wasn’t certain we will be married. When I look down at my left hand, I am reminded that there is a man who is getting ready for me and I need to be doing the same thing. In the same way that the church should constantly be preparing itself for the promised coming of her heavenly Prince, I should be preparing my heart for the real and ever-approaching union of myself and Billy Johnson. I should be employing the help and direction of the Lord to prepare my mind, heart and spirit for my husband (and I should probably work out a few times, too). So that is what I am gonna do.
We will be (we already are) proud to have you as a daughter!
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