Happy first year anniversary to my dear lovely daughter, Ashley, and her fine husband, Andrew!  Can it be a year since that beautiful wedding ceremony that made so much of Him who had brought you together?  Weren’t we blessed with a <<<warm>>> sunny day for your outdoor pictures, a joy-filled ceremony (with poppers and all), and a lovely setting for your reception and dance?  I know your desire was to see Christ high and lifted up as you began married life – a living parable to the world of Christ and his bride – and we have seen that already as you finish up your first year together.  God has proven Himself most gracious to you, hasn’t He?

This has been an incredible year for this young couple – they got married; Andrew continued in his third year of seminary while Ashley took a full-time job as a personal banker even while completing five distance classes to finish up her college coursework; they found themselves expecting several months into their first year (the Lord’s good and blessed timing for this family); Ashley took (and passed) both her education and her music certification exams; Andrew interviewed and was hired for full-time church employment as Pastor of Discipleship; and surely the highlight — A & A became parents to little Calvin just five days ago — whew!

Dad’s and my prayer for you is that you would go forward into the world, drinking deeply from the fountain of Christ’s love and may you continue to see the Lord’s good hand in his protection and guidance for you and your family all of your days.

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In remembering a blessed day one year ago, I share the excerpt of a poem that Andrew chose for their wedding ceremony.  It is a wedding poem of advice by Pastor John Piper to his own son, Karsten, called “Love Her More and Love Her Less.”

If you now aim your wife to bless,
Then love her more and love her less.

If in the coming years, by some
Strange providence of God, you come
To have the riches of this age,
And, painless, stride across the stage
Beside your wife, be sure in health
To love her, love her more than wealth.

And if your life is woven in
A hundred friendships, and you spin
A festal fabric out of all
Your sweet affections, great and small,
Be sure, no matter how it rends,
To love her, love her more than friends.

And if there comes a point when you
Are tired, and pity whispers, “Do
Yourself a favor. Come, be free;
Embrace the comforts here with me.”
Know this! Your wife surpasses these:
So love her, love her, more than ease.

And when your marriage bed is pure,
And there is not the slightest lure
Of lust for any but your wife,
And all is ecstasy in life,
A secret all of this protects:
Go love her, love her, more than sex.

And if your taste becomes refined,
And you are moved by what the mind
Of man can make, and dazzled by
His craft, remember that the “why”
Of all this work is in the heart;
So love her, love her more than art.

And if your own should someday be
The craft that critics all agree
Is worthy of a great esteem,
And sales exceed your wildest dream,
Beware the dangers of a name.
And love her, love her more than fame.

And if, to your surprise, not mine,
God calls you by some strange design
To risk your life for some great cause,
Let neither fear nor love give pause,
And when you face the gate of death,
Then love her, love her more than breath.

Yes, love her, love her, more than life;
O, love the woman called your wife.
Go love her as your earthly best.
Beyond this venture not. But, lest
Your love become a fool’s facade,
Be sure to love her less than God.

It is not wise or kind to call
An idol by sweet names, and fall,
As in humility, before
A likeness of your God. Adore,
Above your best beloved on earth,
The God alone who gives her worth.

And she will know in second place
That your great love is also grace,
And that your high affections now
Are flowing freely from a vow
Beneath these promises, first made
To you by God. Nor will they fade.

For being rooted by the stream
Of Heaven’s Joy, which you esteem
And cherish more than breath and life,
That you may give it to your wife.
The greatest gift you give your wife
Is loving God above her life.

And thus I bid you now to bless:
Go love her more by loving less.

[Photo: Reeves Photography]