A New Day Dawning

Last week, my brother and his boys flew into town, along with my brother's fiance, her young adult children, and about forty of their friends.  On Saturday, in a beautiful outdoor ceremony beneath a canopy of trees down by the river's edge, my brother got married again.

Their five children stood at their sides and I couldn't have been prouder of my three beloved nephews, who have had much to adjust to and who want their father to be happy even in the midst of life's complexities.  Just looking at them standing up there, so tall, so handsome, so full of all of the promise of a future yet to be lived, my eyes filled with tears.

More than a quarter century ago, as we prepared for my brother's first wedding, none of us could ever have anticipated that it would culminate in an ending.  But marriages end, more often than we might wish.  It happened in their lives.  It almost happened in my life.

And life continues on.  A current that carries us relentlessly around the next bend and the next after that.  Being carried ever forwards, despite our struggles against it, and no faster for the wanting of it.

The older I get, the more I recognize grayscale shades that I didn't know existed mere years ago.  There are no simple answers any more and I think it's maybe best that way.  Truly, I'm not sure that the new can happen, can be so precious, unless we live first through what was.

So as the sun sparkled through the leafy branches down by the river my brother married his Love, and my thought was that their celebration was the best of what life is all about.  Grace flowing.  Second chances.  A time for new beginnings and renewed joy.

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Our little family of five...not the greatest picture of either Seth or me, but oh well. :) 

I won't post any wedding photos here quite yet...to give the bride and groom time to do their own thing first.  But just a hint...Lizzie was a flower girl!

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My brother first heard Matt Redman's song when I posted it on my blog a couple of months back.  They chose this song as the music for their processional and it seemed a perfect choice.  A new day dawning indeed!