Strong in the Presence of God

As we are recovering from our trip and the wonderful things we've done in the last week, I've been unpacking my thoughts and considering how it feels to be the mother of the bride.  In a nutshell, it's the best.  Here are some of the things I think.

Eliza and Evan--so strong, young and handsome

My nephew (Jaron, who is married to my niece Natalie, but I like to drop the whole "in-law" moniker with people who feel like family) told me, "It's your day!  You get to be MOB!"  At the time, I kind of wondered what the big deal was because it is really Eliza's day.  The brides day, not her mother's.  But I did have my own experience, and it was a great one.

First, its just so beautiful and fun to see your lovely adult daughter, who has become one of your best friends, with her best buddy who is so brave, strong and handsome, making promises to love and take care of each other and start a new link in the eternal chain of our family, connecting us forever to really wonderful people that we will one day share grandchildren with.  It's quite a payday for a parent.

Next, it's great to be just one step away from the zipper of the sealing of generations.  You're still close enough to remember your own day with quite a bit of clarity (wasn't it just a few years ago?).  You get to sit right next to the love seat you once occupied and see the same view of the eternity mirrors, but you have all this joy in your posterity--that you have known and loved for almost 22 years already.  And you get a shiny new son-in-law, who is pretty much amazing and loves your daughter as much as you do and comes from his own eternally sealed family.  And you get to sit by your faithful and beautiful parents again, who are aging, but shining even more resplendently in their faith and confidence as they are there, as always, to support and love you.  And you get to look around the room and see all the people who love you and your beautiful girl and her handsome man.  Your siblings and their spouses that you love.  Your auntie and uncle.  Your nephew and niece.  Your dear, dear friends, who made sacrifices to come.  And you realize the groom's parents are seeing the same thing.

And you get to hear the sealer deliver the words of life.  The reminder of whose house this is.  The supreme blessings poured down from a loving savior who is both the father and the son.  It's a powerful thing when you're both the mother and the daughter.  It's a reminder of his dual nature being parallel to your own. It makes you want to be more like Him so you can always have his spirit to be with you and you can keep all the goodness and all these feelings for as long as you possibly can.  And it gives you a great deal of confidence that because of His goodness, it can actually be forever.

44 That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.

45 Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.

And also, the parties are great.  You have a much better (too much better) idea of what goes into them, and you still think they are great.  In very fact, they are worth it.  You can't let these kinds of things slide by without a real celebration.