He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men... Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV(1984)

I thought of these lines from Ecclesiastes yesterday morning as Peter and Clara promised to love each other in health and sickness, joy and sorrow, until death parted them. This particular wedding was truly a thing of great beauty, and of eternity.

The same lines had come into my mind in May of this year when my aunt Lisa, who was Peter’s wife for thirty-four years, died completely unexpectedly. Even among my five energetic, life-loving aunts, Lisa was outstanding for her enthusiastic approach to life. For many years a resident of the Hudson Valley, she loved the outdoors and her work with children. More recently, she lived in southern England, working in a community elementary school. A ten-mile walk through the English countryside on a Sunday afternoon was an inevitable part of her weekend, and she walked – like she did everything else – briskly and purposefully, so that people decades younger than her had trouble keeping up. It was on such a hike that she uncharacteristically suggested to Peter that they turn back early; she was not feeling well. The events of the next days were unfathomably fast: admitted to hospital that same evening with relentless pain, Lisa died in Peter’s arms three days later. Yet when her children, sisters, and the community where she lived gathered to say farewell to her, it was not a depressing occasion. Along with the tears and heartache, there was certainty that this was God’s time for Lisa, and that the eternal life which she believed in had now begun for her.

For Clara, tragedy had come four years earlier. On October 29, 2007, Jonathan, her husband of twenty-three years, suffered a massive heart attack and died within minutes. Aged forty-nine, apparently healthy and an active worker, Johnny had reveled in the forests, lakes, and rushing streams surrounding their home in the Catskill Mountains, leading his family on excursions into nature on most weekends. He was an accomplished musician and loved to sing in the family circle and participate in performances of the great choral works of Bach, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and Handel with his church choir. When not in the tenor section, he played the cello. His sudden death, leaving seven children – the youngest, Lakita, only seven years old – was shocking and heartrending.

When tragedy strikes, wounding and bereaving us of the one we love most, how do we continue? Dare we believe, even then, in God’s loving plan and purpose for those left behind? Those present at Peter and Clara’s wedding witnessed a small part of what happens when God is allowed to work in our lives. With the Catskill mountains, loved by both Johnny and Lisa, framed in the windows behind him, Peter shared how, since Lisa’s death, his prayer has been that God’s will is done in his life, and that he would be shown how to use his life in greater service. In an unexpected way, his prayer was answered as he realized a seed of love for Clara had been planted in his heart. Standing next to Peter, Clara expressed her conviction that God had called them together and her joy in this newfound love. The memory of Johnny’s and Lisa’s lives, far from fading, will remain an integral part of Peter and Clara’s new family. The words from 1 Thessalonians 4:14 were read: “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.”

In such a holy moment, there could be no doubt but that God in his wisdom and love had guided these two lives, up until recently so completely separated by distance and circumstance, together. Like light from a bonfire, the radiant joy in Peter’s and Clara’s faces after making vows of lifelong faithfulness touched all of our hearts. No one was left unmoved as Clara’s children happily embraced their new father, and Peter’s daughter Amelia (the only one of his six children who could be present) embraced Clara. Refreshing and pure, this joy was an affirmation of the God-given order of life: a man and a woman pledged to each other in love, in acceptance of God’s will, and in the consciousness of Eternity.

 

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Responses

I was so moved by this story of love and hope.  Life is a gift from God and your miracle of living, loving and family is wonderfully woven into this happy ending.

Joe Wittig
Brookfield, Wisconsin

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Very moving. That is a wonderful affirmation of how God's love is given to us when we also put our faith in God first, like both Peter and Clara have done in their lives. He can take the pain and turn it into joy. This is so amazing and wonderful! Thank you for sharing it with us.

Nicole Solomon
Newnan, GA

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I am so very happy for Clara and Peter and hope that God's  love that brings them together will continue to shine on the marriage and both families for many, many years to come.  I couldn't be more delighted and hope to meet the happy couple soon.  We just never know what God has in store for us and just have to wait and see.  Clara and her family have been a great loving support to me in my own loss and I love them like family and couldn't be more pleased with this wonderful news!  God Bless!

Carol Golas
Hunter, NY