Good morning, Family:

This morning, I woke up so grateful to God. I’ve been listening to the news and watching TV, in the evenings, and everyone is so excited about the upcoming royal wedding. As a minister and certified wedding officiant, I know the joy of being able to join two people together in holy matrimony. 

Most of the time, women marry men that remind them of their father, especially if their father was a good influence in their life. Even though my natural father past away, before he could meet my husband, I still feel like my dad played a major role in who I married. I always tell my husband that I think God and my dad had a conversation and they hand-picked my husband for me. 

My husband loves me with the same gentleness and respect that God does. At the same time he makes me laugh the way my daddy did. When I look into my husband’s eyes, I see nothing but pure love. I’m thankful to God that he prepared me to be a wife, friend and helper to my husband. 

Father, God, you are a good, good, Father. 

Ephesians 5:21-33

The Message (MSG)

Relationships

²¹ Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one another.

^22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands.

^25-28 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.

^29-33 No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.

I love you with an amazing and everlasting love.

Go in peace, while serving the Lord.

Rev. Marcia Davis