Companions For Life
Last night I had the privilege of performing the wedding ceremony for our church choir director. Thanks to a break in the weather the service was able to be held outdoors high on a mountaintop in the Great Smoky Mountains. Everything about the service was beautiful, including the surroundings. As the bride walked toward me and I took in the awe-inspiring surroundings my mind couldn’t help but wander back to the Genesis story where in another garden setting God provided a wife for the first man, Adam. Genesis 2:18 declares, “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
What comes next in the story is kind of funny to me. The Scriptures say that God “formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them…” After this we read, “But for Adam no suitable helper was found.” Apparently Adam didn’t think any of the creatures God had created would make an appropriate mate. I don’t understand. What could be wrong with a porcupine or a giraffe or an ostrich?
Because Adam found “no suitable helper” among the creatures “the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” (vs. 21-22)
When Adam saw God’s new creation he was ecstatic. In this woman God provided the “suitable helper” Adam needed. After this is noted we read the words, “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (v. 24) The story recorded in Genesis 2 seems to serve as the beginning or institution of marriage. Interestingly, I used these same words in Melanie and Ryan’s wedding last night. There in that beautiful outdoor setting they seemed so very appropriate.
I realize that I do not write much about the human side of Creation in this blog but it certainly is part of the story too. In the Creation accounts found in Genesis 1 and 2 it is very obvious that God created a world where the needs of all might be met. He created a world where fish and birds and mammals and insects and trees might all thrive. Without a doubt God also wanted His human creation to thrive and realized that for men and women to flourish they would need companions. I won’t go so far as to say everybody should or must get married to be complete but I will say that I believe that we humans are made with an inherent need for others. Even those, like myself, who are introverts recognize that life would not be worth living were it not for the friendship, love and companionship we find in others. I guess there is a sense in which all of my family and friends are “companions for life” for my life wouldn’t be the same without them. They all give me so much life! So today I would like to give thanks for God’s provision of companions. I am very thankful for my wife, Bonita. I am also extremely grateful for my family and friends. In fact today I give thanks for all those God has allowed to cross my path thus far, and that includes you. Thanks to all for the “life” you give me!
–Chuck
(I took the top picture several years ago at Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The middle picture is the happy couple, Ryan and Melanie Brown, last night. The bottom image is of my wife and I. Rob shamed me by posting an image of his wife earlier this week so I felt compelled to do this.)