I can be pretty sentimental at times – I love traditions and finding things that symbolize an emotion or memory. When my husband and I were engaged and we were planning our wedding and reception, I researched various wedding traditions. One that struck me and that I ended up incorporating as wedding favors for our guests was Jordan Almonds. Jordan Almonds are bittersweet: the almonds bitter, the candy coating sweet. Bittersweet – like so many moments in life. Our wedding day for the first example: bitter because we were leaving our families, our childhoods; sweet because we were choosing each other and had the hope of a beautiful united life together and creating our own family.
My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Fifty years, half of a century … countless Jordan Almond moments…
When that newborn finally slept through the night … so sweet to get some rest, but you knew they were already growing too fast
New and promising career opportunities … but leaving what was always home to create a new one
A life changing diagnosis … but you knew you’d walk through it together
Every milestone of your daughters and your grandkids… so full of joy and pride, but time please slow down
Saying goodbye to loved ones, rejoicing that they’re in paradise, but grieving their absence
Bittersweet moments of both joy and pain; hope and disappointment; quick answers to prayer and long periods of waiting. I believe the sweet part of bittersweet comes from faith in God, and a marriage that lasts is built on that faith. No matter how bitter life will sometimes inevitably be, God is still sweet.
My parents have always had that strong faith, that God is good and that we can trust Him completely. They taught my sister and I, both by what they said and how they lived, to build our lives and our marriages on the firm foundation that God is Sovereign, He is good, He is faithful, and we are here to reflect Him and His love.
Fifty years is such a big deal! Less than 5% of marriages last 50 years. What an example they are. What a legacy they’ve built. What a picture of grace and love and patience and selflessness … a picture of Christ’s love, which is how marriages are supposed to be.
Jordan almonds are the tradition and symbol for marriages just beginning; the tradition and symbol after walking through so many moments of bittersweet for 50 years of marriage: GOLD.
Gold is …
…precious
…strong
…beautiful
…full of value
…resistant to corrosion
…refined
…resilient
Symbols help when words can’t quite fulfill what we want to say. To my parents – you are GOLD. I am beyond thankful.
