ROYAL WEDDINGS
In 1981, I was 15 years old and I couldn’t wait to watch Lady Diana and Prince Charles get married with my family. Being Dutch myself and having most of my extended family over in The Netherlands, the royalty of both the Britain monarchy and The Netherlands monarchy was influential in my family’s life. What they wore, how they wore it and how we could be like them was important to my family, especially my grandmother, Kakky. When Lady Diana passed away in August 1996, I was in Aspen with friends and saddened to hear the news. I remember I shed a couple tears and was surprised by my reaction.
Over the past couple weeks I heard of people planning Royal Wedding parties and I realized I didn’t have much desire to watch it. (sorry kakky!!) But the morning of Harry & Meghan’s wedding, I happened to wake up at 6am and laid there another 30 minutes hoping to go back to sleep. It wasn’t happening so I decided I might as well join the rest of the world and watch the wedding. Thank goodness for YouTube TV I didn’t have to go far.
I turned on my laptop, put in my air pods and watched the live coverage on the BBC channel. From the panoramic views of the countryside to the Windsor Castle and the up close views of Meghan and Harry…it was incredibly to have a front row seat.
credit: Alexi Lubomirski
One of the most riveting parts of the ceremony was the preacher, Bishop Michael Curry! I’m not sure if I read the body language correctly but the royal family looked almost uncomfortable as they watched this incredible Bishop preach the Word. He described how the power of love can be applied in not only marriage but all aspects of our lives. The power of love could eliminate hunger, war, and poverty. And ultimately creating what we all want…to be loved by our family.
Curry, a cradle Episcopalian (his father was an Episcopal priest), is often mistaken for a Baptist. His preaching style draws on the long and venerable tradition of black preachers dating to the days of slavery. At St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on Saturday, he opened his sermon in measured tones, beginning with a reading from the Song of Solomon. This was to be a sermon about love, one appropriate to the marrying couple, but also — and here Curry demonstrated his artistic mastery — to the gathered audience and to the world at large. “There is power in love,” he said. “Don’t underestimate it.” – Randall Palmer of the Washington Post
WHAT POWER ARE WE LIVING IN?
There is power in love but how are we loving on our families, our friends, our colleagues, our neighbors, strangers, etc… This past week one of my Aunts in The Netherlands passed away from having a few strokes that she was unable to recover from. Her daughter, my cousin Stasja, is an only child so the weight of being there for her Mother rested solely on her shoulders. Stasja played a special role when my Mother was in her final days. I was with my Mom in the last 29 days of her life and Stasja was there for me literally everyday through texts and phone calls. So when I learned about Stasja being with her Mom in the hospital I wanted to make sure she felt supported in the same way she had done for me.
Showing love in this aforementioned example comes naturally but how do we show the power of love when things are difficult? When your spouse yells at you? When a family member is critical of you? When your boss is less than patient with you? When someone cuts you off in line? When the customer service rep doesn’t understand your request?
We are all hoping for a huge dosage of grace when we stand before Almighty God yet we don’t show it to the very people He created and put in our lives.
We have a tendency to lean in the direction of the:
- Power of Assumption – We know what happens when we do this…
- Power of Criticism – Even our critical thoughts can be displayed through our actions.
- Power of Blaming – How does it make you feel when you are blamed?
- Power of Pride – This one gets me every time. It’s why I’m not motivated to love.
- Power of Selfishness – I don’t know many people who would claim this one but at our core we all fight this one.
LOOK IN THE MIRROR
Our everyday occurrences matter. How we treat each other will be accounted for. Do you read this and think about someone else vs yourself? We need to ask ourselves the hard questions and check in with how are we sharing the power of love? Was it modeled for you? If not, then you will have far greater challenges in living in the power of love. It will take a great deal of intentionality on your part to learn from mentors and counselors. I know because I’ve been a student the past 15 years learning how to overcome my natural defaults.
If we stay confused over this matter, we lose.
Jesus is doing a work through us and to us. We are amazed at his unconditional love and it is His example that we should emulate, not fairness nor defensiveness. Look above and cling to love.
Love wins…every single time. Don’t you want to be on the winning team?
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. – 2 Corinthians 4:10
I pray the life of Jesus is revealed in my thoughts, my words and my actions. Realistically, I’m always missing the mark but I’m working hard towards this goal. Thankfully, my husband shows me a lot of grace, which motivates me even more to be Christ-like in all my ways.
Do you have an example of how you live(d) through the power of love? Send us some inspiration!
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