Amelia attended her first wedding as flower girl for my nephew and his bride. Thomas was ring bearer and Timothy and Ezra dressed to the nines were just bonus cuteness. In the wake of Christmas fun and festivities, each of our grands wracked up a pretty significant sleep deficit. Combine that with overstimulation, overindulgence, and unexpected illness and you’ve got yourself quite a handful. Now add in an evening wedding rehearsal followed by an early afternoon wedding and you’ll understand if I was slightly concerned about four kids aged four and under pulling it off.
Not knowing exactly what would be expected of them until the evening of rehearsal, the girls and I did our best to prepare Thomas and Amelia for what ring bearers and flower girls do. Four year old Thomas was entrusted with a family heirloom, a Bible in its fifth generation of weddings. He took his charge quite seriously and handled his parcel with care throughout rehearsal, wedding ceremony, and pictures. Amelia was given an empty beribboned basket at rehearsal but on the day of the wedding, her little tote was filled to the brim with delicate rose petals.
Seeing the wheels turning behind her bright blue eyes, her aunt Caroline stepped in, explaining how she should scatter a few petals every few steps down the aisle until she took her place next to the bridesmaids. Now Amelia is already an expert on scattering flowers. My shrubs endure constant plucking as she mixes torn bits of leaves with flower buds, moss from the sidewalk cracks and dirt from any and everywhere. Once her concoctions are complete, she sprinkles them around the front porch and driveway as if sowing precious seeds. This, however, was not the first thought to cross her mind when she received her little basket of flower petals.
In our land across the street, behind where our son’s family will build soon, my husband places dried deer corn, a wintertime treat in an attempt to establish our own little wildlife refuge. When the grandchildren are visiting, he totes a bag of corn over and allows them to fill the plot. Thomas was the first to discover the fun of tossing the golden kernels by handfuls into the air like confetti. His method caught on and when the littles see the canister of corn in our garage, they burst out chanting “corn-fetti!”
As Amelia, basket in hand, surveyed the aisle in front of her, she seemed to be silently calculating the best spot to hurl her petals heavenward. Recognizing that mischievous look in Amelia’s eyes as it passed quietly to Thomas, Caroline knelt down, encircling Amelia with her arms before directing her forward. “Just take a few petals and drop them gently, some on this side and then some on that side every few steps until you get to your spot.” “You mean on the floor?” Amelia asked, nose wrinkled disapprovingly. Then she and Thomas walked forward together, perfectly poised and only slightly hesitant.
“O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you.” (ESV)
“Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge.
Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness.”
1 Timothy 6:20-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1ti.6.20-21.NLT
When Paul writes to young Timothy, his son in the faith, reminding him to guard the deposit entrusted to him, I am reminded of Jesus’s story about three servants entrusted with their master’s wealth while he was away on a long journey. Jesus’s stories, also known as parables or earthly stories with heavenly meaning, were meant to illustrate spiritual realities in relatable terms. Jesus speaking to Nicodemus said, “But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”
John 3:12 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.3.12.NLT
The story of the three servants was a picture of God’s kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. Timothy’s trust and ours is the good news of Jesus, God the Son, who came to reconcile fallen man to God. By His substitutionary death and miraculous resurrection, Jesus became the Way back to the Father. He is the Truth and the Life to anyone who comes to Him by faith. We who trust Him steward this gospel message with our words and by our lives.
Jesus tells us something of the servants as He sets up His story. Bondservants were permanently attached to their master either by conquest or by choice. These servants were given a trust before the master’s departure and there is expectation attached.
“To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.”
Matthew 25:15 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.25.15.ESV
The first was given the equivalent of one hundred years worth of wages for a laborer, the second forty years worth of earnings and the last twenty years worth. These are no mere sums. I am nervous walking around with large sums of cash in my purse. I prefer to delegate larger withdrawals to my husband. I find it difficult to imagine the third servant feeling safe depositing that sum- twenty years worth of wages- into a hole he had dug. What if someone had been watching and had taken it all once he left? This was a huge risk. The servant was obviously trusted by the master or he would not have received a dime. Where was the disconnect? Loyalty can be faked but God is not mocked.
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Galatians 6:7-9 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/gal.6.7-9.ESV
“Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.
Here, you have what is yours.’
But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!
You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?
Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.”
Matthew 25:19, 24-27 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.25.27.ESV
The bride had only met my grandson a few times and her mother not at all, but Thomas was entrusted with carrying a Bible which had belonged to her great great grandmother. Thomas is a thoughtful, intelligent boy. He’s also creative and silly and temperamental at times but by and large, he’s very considerate and respectful and not just for a four year old. Amelia is naturally intense and carefree but when she first met Laura, they instantly shared a special bond. Amelia obviously admired Laura and so she rose to the challenge, earning the admiration of everyone in attendance. Only her daddy noticed and intercepted the playful look between she and Thomas once during a prayer and no one was the wiser.
“So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance.
But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
Matthew 25:28-29 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.25.28-29.ESV
Our grandchildren enjoyed their first wedding immensely. Their parents received many compliments on the excellent performance of their duties and on their good behavior. After the ceremony, while we waited for pictures, Amelia and Thomas retrieved the scattered petals from the aisle and tossed a few handfuls high. My granny would have said they got to have their cake and eat it too! God’s kingdom is just like that.
A Fitting Reply 