Posted by (I was asked to give a short talk at the 30th Wedding Anniversary of our friends. Here’s what I shared:)
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“Beloved friends and family, today we gather not just to celebrate an anniversary, but to honor a sacred covenant—a 30-year journey of love, commitment, and faith. In a world where permanence is rare, E and J have lived out a promise made before God, and they continue to walk that promise every day.”
Ok I’ll stop there. Chat GPT wrote that for me. Not bad, right?
Here’s a message not drafted by Chat GPT:
The first sacred institution that God established when He created the world is marriage. Then when Jesus came as the promised Messiah, the first miracle He performed was on a wedding feast when He turned water into wine. That’s how important marriage is viewed by God, and so should we.
When we attend wedding ceremonies, we often hear the officiating minister or priest give an inspirational message to the couple being married. But in an occasion like this, a 30-year wedding anniversary, it is the opposite – it’s the married couple and their life of dedication to each other – is the inspirational message for all of us.
25 years is Silver, 50 years is Gold, how about 30 years anniversary?
The 30th wedding anniversary is known as the Pearl Anniversary because pearls symbolize enduring beauty, wisdom, and strength.
Do you know how pearls are formed? Pearls are formed when an irritant, like a grain of sand, unwelcomely intrudes the inner sanctum of the oyster.
But the oyster instead of letting this irritant damage its fragile body it chooses to turn this irritant into a jewel by coating it with precious material that it secretes that turn it into a pearl.
I’m not saying that marriage starts as an irritant. No, no, no, that’s not what I’m saying, and definitely not E and J’s marriage.
But in marriage, we cannot avoid small misunderstandings, sudden flares of temper, bursts of impatience, transient bouts of doubt or mistrust – but E and J, chose to make these trials or should we call irritants in marriage, be coated and covered with love and forgiveness and turn them into precious moments like pearls.
That’s why we are celebrating the Pearl Wedding Anniversary of E and J.
Lastly, I want to leave you with a Bible text:
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NIV)
9 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
10 If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Is that text very true for marriage?
Maybe most of us will agree, especially in the keeping warm together, for we all know how cold winter nights in Iowa ca be.
But what I want to empathize in this Bible text is the last sentence: “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”
In the passage it was talking about the benefits of two together, then suddenly it talks about the advantage of three.
What’s the 3rd strand in the cord?
God must be a part of our marriage cord. And that’s what E and J did – they made God a part of their covenant with each other, and that’s why their union is strong and blessed.
Congratulations E and J!
(*photo from the web)