Awaiting the King

I'll be the first to tell you how marriage happy I am. That M-word is one of my favorites in the English language! Our culture seems to not only come to a screeching halt when faced with the word, but also turn around and make a mad dash in the opposite direction. If half of the marriages in our society end in the D-word, that tells us that they don't fully understand the depth and breadth of this concept.

Ephesians 5 gives us the best description of marriage:

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

Weddings are wonderful but they are not a lifetime, but your marriage, Lord willing, will be. For me, this meant learning that I am to submit to my husband - no ifs or buts about it (I still fail in this area many times). For Pooki, it meant being (opposed to playing) the leader and shepherding over our family's souls. Of course there's more to it than those two points, but I'm saying that it's not about the butterflies you had when you were dating. Butterflies have a very short lifespan, literally and figuratively. A few months into dating, I didn't want to sit next to Mr. Woo, much less be in the same room as him, literally only. But the Lord was gracious, and we worked it out.

This passage of Scripture is so beautiful in its depiction of Man & Wife. The more I mull over it, the more I learn from the proverbial verses. I'm seeing another facet of the jewel up close and personal this week with Mr. Woo down at Shepherd's Conference. I'm excited for him to be able to attend and enjoy this Disneyland-for-pastors experience, however, I cannot wait until he comes home. And that's just like us in our wait for our Lord's second coming. Our Groom has momentarily left us to fulfill a greater purpose, and expects us to be faithful with what He has entrusted to us during this time. Many of us toil in the sun wiping our brows of the salty sweat from our work, but how few of us expectantly wait and yearn for His return!

Before Mr. Woo departed on his journey, I was told to be an encouragement while I man the fort. He exhorted me to trust in the Lord and read and pray so that I can tell him the things of which I was blessed with when he's back. He, also, would be learning - from godly, seasoned men, writing detailed notes so that he can share with me the benefits from his trip.

I was agreeable to my husband's wishes, but then it came - the river! Since we married, we have spent every.single.day together, and only a couple of short days apart while we were dating. We commute together to work, we work at the same school and campus, we come home together, we serve at the same church in the same ministry (TM is under CM), and have done so for quite some time now. The time apart is like trying to take peanut butter away from jam - you just don't do it! But then I thought about it some more, and I think there are exceptions: You may only take peanut butter away from jam if you replace jam with bananas. And you know what tastes mighty good in addition? Honey! Mr. Woo is going away to be fed while I do some examining (we make idols out of anything, don't we...), but when he comes back we'll have something sweeter! This is all going to be refreshing with a glass of milk. :)

I'm still waiting, but when my king is back I can imagine that there will be much leaping and dancing. I miss Pooki!!!

 The photoholder craft (made at VBS '08) was made for me by Mr. Woo. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it reads: King of Kings, and has a red crown near the bottom. Handcrafted by my Honey Bun! I kept his (staff) school picture from 2008-09 next to it, but Mr. Woo has recently taken the boy bunny back to his desk "because they should be together." :)