"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." ~ Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
Hey, guys... First of all, so sorry for the title. I couldn't resist. Second, there has been something on my mind lately. My mom is a photographer and I am usually her second shooter. Now that I'm at college it is harder to make that happen, but you get the picture (no pun intended haha :P). Needless to say, I have been to an unnatural amount of weddings. Like, for real. I pretty much already have most of my wedding planned mainly because I have seen so many good (and not so good lol) things to do for your wedding! I've learned a lot more than just good ideas for decorations and party gifts though. I've seen brides and grooms have the most wonderful day together with each other and I have also witnessed the stress and everything else that goes along with a wedding get to the couple and ruin their day. As I look back on all the different types of weddings I've been to, I can see similar attributes in the ones with happy couples as well as in the ones where the resulting emotions of the couple could have been better. In a world and culture where we (especially females) are constantly pressured to have the latest, greatest, and BEST EVER wedding known to mankind, I thought it might not be a bad idea to share my two cents on the subject.
Ok, you ready? The thing I have noticed the most at the weddings in which the bride and groom just seemed to glow the entire time is the fact that they did not make the day all about them. Yes, you read that right. They didn't make the day completely about them! Our present day culture is all the time pushing on us to make this one day ALL about us in EVERY way. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that a person's wedding should really be about serving rather than being served. Let me explain:
1. Show the Glory of God's Love.
A lot of people forget that, as Christians, we are to show God's love at ALL times. This does not exclude your wedding day! Actually, you should probably be showing God's love even more than usual on this day because the reason we even have marriage is to demonstrate the way Christ loves the church. I've seen so many great examples of people demonstrating God's importance in their marriage during their wedding ceremony. Many do this through the taking of communion with each other, but there is one time that stands out to me amongst the others. At this one particular wedding, the bride and groom actually served everyone in the room communion. It was such a sweet thing to witness and be able to photograph. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us." (HCSB) We can't forget to give God credit, especially on a day where we are supposed to be celebrating love.
2. Serve Your Guests
This goes hand-in-hand with my first point. We can show God's love by serving others. I know it will be so incredibly easy to get wrapped up in the momentous meaning of a wedding day, but taking the time to remember others could have an eternal impact on someone's life! I know that may seem a bit over shot, but I'm serious. For an example, at the same wedding that I was talking about before, my Mom and I shot pretty much all day long. A lot of people don't really think about it, but the photographers have a HUGE job at weddings and it can get pretty stressful as well as tiring. I remember as we neared the end of the reception, Mom and I were sitting down at a table waiting for the bride and groom to announce their official departure and watching out for good photo ops in the mean time. While we were resting, the bride came over to us and asked us if there was anything she could do for us. She encouraged us and told we had done a wonderful job and how she was so thankful for us. I have shot several different weddings, and she is the only bride that has ever said/done anything like that for us, the photographers. It stuck out to me and I highly doubt I will ever forget that. Like I said, it doesn't have to be something huge you do to serve those around you. Just serve! "For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serveoneanother through love." Galatians 5:13
3. Serve Your Spouse
Okay, so this is probably going to get a lot of 'well duhhhhh' s from all of you, but think about it! This day is not about YOU, it is about you BOTH. It takes more than one person for a couple to get married, but I've witnessed so many brides and grooms forget this. It is always so sad to see. Once when my Mom and I were shooting, the bride and groom decided they wanted to do a first look type thing (if you're not sure exactly what that is, basically they decided to see each before the ceremony and do their portraits then). We showed up with the bride and got into position for when the groom would make his grand appearance and sweep his bride off her feet. Well, when he did show up, he was texting. He glanced up at his promised, said a flippant 'Hey,' and then went right back to whoever was on the phone. It was so sad. There was no 'wow,' no 'you look gorgeous,' not even an 'I love you.' In order for the first two points to be done correctly and actually have a successful marriage, we have to remember that marriage relationship is a servant relationship! Ephesians 5:22,25 says it like this: "Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord... Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her."
So there you have it. My two cents. What do yall think?
Hi, all! So sorry for the lack of posting (I feel like I say that every single post... That might should tell me something... Hmm...) here lately. College has pretty much decided to take over my life at the moment :) . School is going pretty well. I really can't believe that the semester is already half way over! I'm definitely looking forward to Christmas break though haha. I mean, a month without homework AND you get presents! Who doesn't love that?!? LOL! Well, I just wanted to let you all know that I am still alive and I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs :)
Wow! Summer went by SO fast! I leave for NGU in less than two weeks! Actually, I think it is down to 10 days now. How crazy! I took a ton of pictures this summer, so I'll tell you about it through those.
The first big thing that happened for me was SLA. SLA stands for Student Leader Apprenticeship. This is a program that Fuge Camps (which is hosted my Lifeway) sponsors at two of their camp sites. I went to the one in New Mexico.
The SLAs go around the camp learning about how it is run and helping the staffers with whatever they need. We went to an assisted living home and a nursing home one day, which is the picture on the left.
Here are my fellow SLAers and I outside of the chapel where we held the worship services. My group of SLAers ended up being an all girl group so we called our group the SLAdies. :)
We were going to go ziplining (I truly was going to actually do it. Someone was probably going to have to push me, but I really was going to do it! Promise. ;) ), but it started raining right as we were climbing up the stand. We waited around a few minutes to see if it would pass, but when it started raining down some pretty sizable hail, we decided to forgo that experience.
We went backpacking over the weekend. It was a pretty neat experience to go up into the mountains and do that. (Sorry for the turned picture)
We had what I like to call 'hispanic smores' while backpacking. :) Just take a flour tortilla and fry it some in a pan and then add the chocolate and the marshmellows! So incredibly yummy.
This is me and some of the group that the staffer I shadowed and I brought to the nursing home during the second week, as well as Mrs. Bonnie. She told us all about her life and showed us scrapbooks that she and her daughter had made together. Below is me with the staffer I shadowed, Cat. She was amazing!
About a week after I got back from New Mexico, my youth group went to Fuge camp together at NGU. We were there during the week of July 4th (notice my amazing shirt in the picture to the left!). Fuge really is an amazing camp. I always grow during my week there. Sadly, this was my last year as a camper, but I fully intend on being a chaperon next year! :)
The top picture on the right is the band that we had that week. You may remember them from one of my previous posts about worship. Jarod Espy is the worship pastor at the church I am going to be attending while at college. You should definitely check his music out. It is pretty legit.
There were giant slugs... Just thought I'd mention that one.
Below is some of us with Jarod and one of the staffers, Sarah. She led one of the track times I was in, Interpretive Sign. I've posted the video of my track preforming above.
The last thing I am going to write about is my mission trip to Honduras this year. It was absolutely amazing, just like last year. It is great to get out of the country and see how God is moving in other places. This year is was good to see all the wonderful friends I had made last year as well as see how God had been working in their lives over the last year.
Our awesome translators, Carlos and Gabby.
The team I was with.
We did VBS everyday with the village kids. That was super fun! :)
I'm not kidding when I say that these kids LOVED to have piggy back rides. (Yes- Carlos has two on his back!)
We poured concrete floors for several of the village homes.
We helped to roof a few houses, too.
Washing our hair in FREEZING water! It felt great afterwards though.
In the picture above, we were having one of our nightly worship services.
First of all, thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway I hosted! It was a good turn out I think with a total of 13 entries. Anyway, without further ado, here is our winner:
LADY DRAGONKEEPER
Yay! Congrats!!! I am going to send you an email soon. Thanks again everyone! Hopefully there will be more giveaways and reviews soon! :)
