wedding

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - Married this day.

I can't deny it...they look so beautiful, so wonderful.  So gifted, so young, so rich.

Today Mario and I made the final preparations on our marriage class: a four session interactive course we are calling "Marital Fitness"... geared toward the un-churched.   As we were looking over video clips together, my friend, Bonnie caled to ask if I wanted to come over and watch the royal wedding at her house.  

"Oh, that's today?" I answered, sheepishly.  She laughed.  Bonnie knows that I, as both an American and as a  rare spectator of commercial news, am hopelessly clueless to the English influence that is over this country.  Therefore, I have little clue to how the man next in line (after Prince Charles) to the British throne would celebrate his marriage to a beautifully non-royal Kate Middleton.  

She doesn't understand: I did this 30 years ago.  

While I was busily working at the outline of a class to prepare young couples who could care less about tradition or the church for a healthy, long-lasting marriage, William and Kate became man and wife.  Their marriage (or what we can see of it) is the veneered hope for the world to again appreciate the institution that is the backbone of England and the free world: marriage.  

As I scrambled, tonight to catch up on what the rest of the world had been watching all day, I caught a color commentary (featuring a few British anchors and the American, Giuliana DePandi) that bantered about the dress, the vows, the eye contact and the upcoming cake.  It was precious, but lacked substance.  

No one (during the commentary)  asked if these two had been exposed to working covenants, or marriages that went the distance.  Not much is said about their religious upbringing or desire to live for God.  No one is talking about their preparation for marriage, or who they have seen as a couple they can confide in.  These, as Mario and I were working out today, are the salvation of most marriages- Christian or not. 

Maybe I noticed it because Mario and I were busy today with marriage course preparations.  Maybe I am fed up with color commentaries acting like they are personal friends of those they are speaking about.  Maybe I can say (with all honesty) that I am clueless about how to motivate the world (including those close to me) how to prepare for the deepest, most mine-filled covenant that they will ever see in their lifetime.

As with most things, the wedding today glittered from the outside, and therefore looked healthy to most who were watching.  Good luck, guys.  I couldn't live a royal life in a fishbowl, and don't know many who could.  

God bless the young couple...and God help us all to live in marriages that stand the test of time.