What a Way to Ring In the New Year!

December 31^st was a day of sharp contrasts.  I was awakened in my Asheville hotel room at 7:00am by a call from Hannah, who was in a room across the hall with Sara and my niece, Kelsey. She asked me to come down to their room because the people in the room next to theirs were screaming at each other. I would have woken up anyway because they were so loud I could hear them in our room as well.

I walked down the hall, and as I walked past the screamers’ room, I knocked on the door. The girls will tell you I banged on it, but I really don’t think I did. I didn’t want to talk to the screamers, I just wanted them to realize that they were not in a particularly private setting and they might want to bring it down a notch or two.

According to the girls, they woke up to the beginnings of the argument, heard a loud slap, the man say “Ow!” and begin to cry. I heard the man screaming at the top of his lungs asking his companion what she thought she was doing and why she was such a princess. About 20 minutes later, after I was back in my room, I heard talking in the hall. The man (hardly a man, actually, he couldn’t have been older than 21 or 22) was loading his luggage onto a valet cart. He was being alternatively helped and berated by an older man who the girls said was giving both of the screamers a hard time about all of the fuss. The man-boy looked more miserable than almost anyone I’ve ever seen. It made me sad. I wondered why two people, especially young people, would waste their time and energy with someone they were so obviously not meant to be with.

Contrast that with the joyful evening celebration of my niece Mollie’s wedding to her college sweetheart, Dave. Here we have two young people who couldn’t be more perfect for each other. Faithful and devoted Christians, Mollie and Dave personify the term “equally yoked” and were the happiest bride and groom I’ve ever seen. Beaming doesn’t begin to describe their faces at the reception. The ceremony was beautiful and personal and filled with love for each other, their families and friends, and God. My favorite moment was when the pastor was saying the prayers and Mollie and Dave were standing, facing each other, holding hands with their foreheads together in prayer. It was lovely, and you could tell that at that moment, for them the only three beings in the room were Mollie, Dave and God. I wish them many more moments like that throughout their lives.

So congratulations to Mollie and Dave. And thank you for allowing me to be a part of your special day. I was honored!

Happy New Year!