Symbolism in a Christian Wedding

EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN: Symbolism in  a Christian Wedding

  Podge and Joyce with Pastor Joey Rafael

     One of my friends in the Worship Ministry of our church invited me to the wedding of her only son, Podge, to his fiancee, Joyce, last Saturday, August 14, in San Pedro, Laguna. Since last year, the couple have been planning this wedding and it turned out great. This goes to show that you can have a proper and decent wedding on a budget if you plan ahead and know where to look. 

Photos above: table bouquet, the string   

quartet, the seated bridesmaids, the

wedding cake, the couple with the 

groom's parents

Photos this level: Of course, me and

my friends plus Luisa, the mother of the groom. Right photo, my friends with pastors from Nigeria and their friends.

    
     The wedding took place in a garden restaurant which truly caters for weddings and events. The set-up was great, even the table bouquets and the seating arrangements were in the table as you enter. Our associate pastor, Ptr. Joey Rafael officiated the wedding covenant and as he spoke, it reminded me to share the many symbolisms that we have in a Christian wedding--the exchange of rings, the unity candle, the Bible, the veil, the chord, and the coins. As I have posted this already many times past, a marriage is not a contract. It is a covenant between the unified couple and God. So, with this in mind, here are the symbolic meaning of the things that we use in a Christian wedding:

     1) The Bible  -- represents the Word of God which is Jesus, the manual of life which the couple should put their faith on to live their life as a family.

     2) The Unity Candle -- symbolizes the union of husband and wife as they chose to live together and grow together in Christ, who is the light of the world leading their way.

      3) The Veil -- placed on the groom's should and on the bride's head. This symbolizes the responsibility of this unity is place on the man's shoulder and the woman's submission to the leadership of her husband as Christ is the leader of the church.

     4) The Chords -- placed around the veiled groom and bride. This symbolizes, again, that the husband and wife are now one.

     5) The Coins -- a symbol of prosperity.

     6) The Exchanging of the Rings -- symbolizes eternal or unending love for one another. 

     One thing Ptr. Joey reminded Podge which I really like: "Remember, that your wife's place is beside you, not under your feet".

    

"For There Is Nothing Hidden Which Will Not Be Revealed"

SPIRITUAL FOOD: "For There is Nothing Hidden Which Will Not be Revealed"

     Although we can keep secrets from some people, there is Someone whom we cannot keep anything from--our God. He sees everything, He knows everything, He sees us from the inside out and knows the intents and thoughts of our hearts. So, if we have committed a sin or an error, He knows it even if we hide it. If we draw near to Him, though we lie, we shall know His truth(His word) and His truth shall set us free. 

Psalm 69:5  " Oh God, You know my foolishness; and my sins are not hidden from You."

Psalm 139: 1-4  "O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. There is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether".

Psalm 44: 21 "Would not God search this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart."

Mark 4: 22 "For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light."

Psalm 119: 10- 11 "With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments. Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

Keeping Secrets

ISSUES OF LIFE: Keeping Secrets

     When we were teenagers, we used to love to whisper to our close friends little secrets that we trust them to keep. "Shhhh... don't tell anyone", is the usual beginning and final statement when telling someone a secret. But these secrets eventually are bared and create issues between you and your friends who got itchy to divulge them to others. And why not? Trust is the issue for you and they betrayed that trust. Or is it the issue, really?

     A secret is a truth that you are covering for. Whatever the reason that this truth is being covered or hidden, it will eventually come out in the open. The Bible says that "there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known" (Matthew 10:26). Like a water leak from your pipes, the secret tends to find a way out so that little by little the secret leaks until the full measure is drawn out. The trouble is, when you entrust someone with that secret and that someone uncovers it for you, it becomes a gossip topic and before you know it, everyone knows what you're hiding.

    Have you hidden a secret from your parents, your husband, your boss? That secret is usually a boo-boo that you've done, otherwise you wouldn't hide it. What if it was something that you need to pay for, like a petty theft or a crime, would you compromise your best friend's integrity by telling him/her of this? Would you feel betrayed if he/she prefers to divulge your secret to the authorities? 

     To me, keeping secrets is like lying to someone you love or to someone that would  be affected by your kept secret. You need to lay your cards on the table to give them a full view of who you really are. If you have secrets right now, you need to take them off your chest and bare them so that you could be free from the baggage you've been carrying for a long time. Maybe the consequence could hurt someone for a while, but honesty is still the best policy.

 

Curtains, Drapes, Blinds--Serve Their Purpose for Your Home

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING: Curtains, Drapes, Blinds--Serve Their Purpose for Your Home

All photos courtesy of Photobucket

       

     Windows and glass doors are part of our home and are placed there for us to gain access to the outside and let the air and sunshine in. In order to control the air and the light that comes into our home, we place curtains, drapes, and/or blinds over these windows and glass doors depending on our home's style and needs.

     With the varied, wonderful materials available to us today, curtains, drapes, and blinds are used for many purposes. Firstly, they provide privacy for our home covering  us from the outside world, yet when using light, opaque fabric, you can still let the light into your home, but not too much. So, secondly, they control the light that comes into our home. Thirdly, they are decorative pieces which add ambiance to your room. Depending on the style statement that the homeowner wants to impart, curtains and drapes are added attractions that complement his furniture set up or to dress up a grand window. Curtains and drapes also set the mood of your room through choices of color--to give warmth to the room, choose dark colors like burgundy, dark green, etc.; to lighten up the room and make it cool, choose light or neutral colors like beige, white, etc. Fabric patterns can also add style to the room; a striped fabric can give an impression of a taller ceiling and blinds could give an impression of coziness and modernity. Another purpose of curtains and drapes are for acoustic purposes. Ideally, a home theater or music room should not have windows, but there are homeowners who prefer to maintain their windows in these rooms. But the glass in window panes causes sound to bounce off. The solution? Use acoustic curtains so that the sound is contained inside the room. 

     There are many types of curtains and drapes--some standard, some pleated, some with valance and some just hung in great curtain rods. Blinds are being used more in modern homes but there are some colonial-style, Spanish and Mediterranean-style houses which use blinds in them in combination with drapes or curtains. 

     Well, whatever your style of home is, curtains, drapes and blinds will serve their purpose for your home.

Making Frozen Blackberries into Desserts

FOOD AND HEALTH: Making Frozen Blackberries into Desserts

     Shopping for steaks in South Supermarket in Alabang, we found frozen blackberries which my husband concocted into desserts--first, the healthier version and second, the more sweet version. So, here are the photos and the recipes.

BLACKBERRIES WITH BERRY MIX YOGURT

250 gms. frozen blackberries, thawed

3, 125 gms. berry mix Nestle yogurt, slightly frozen

6 pcs. Oreo berry cookies, separated

Steps:

     Lay 3 single Oreo cookies with the berry cream at the bottom each of 3 ice-cream bowls. Place the rest of the single Oreo cookie-halves, without the berry cream, on a cheese cloth or clean dish cloth then pound with a mallet to coarsely chop the cookies, then set aside. Put thawed blackeberries on top of the Oreo cookies in the bowls as much and top with scoops of slightly frozen berry mix yogurt. Sprinkle with chopped Oreo cookies. Serves 3.

SWEETENED BLACKBERRIES WITH SELECTA VANILLA ALMOND ICE-CREAM

250 gms. frozen blackberries, thawed

1 1/4 cup sugar

2-3 tbsps. water

Merengues, 12-15 pieces

Selecta Vanilla Almond Ice-Cream

Steps:  

     Place sugar in a pot and melt into 2 tbsps. water. Place in medium heat, stirring constantly until bubbly. If too thick, sprinkle more water. Add blackeberries and stir into caramel but not vigorously. When the sauce is a bit thick, remove from heat and cool for 30 minutes, then chill. Prepare 3 ice-cream bowls. Place 2-4 pcs. Merengues at the bottom of the bowls. If too big, crack the Merengues into big chunks. Scoop ice-cream into balls. Add sweetened blackberries with the sauce. Serves 3 or more.

  

    

"What It Means to Be Poor", by Usuario?

EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN: "What It Means to be Poor", by Usuario?

Photo of a farm courtesy of Photobucket

     My brother, Paul, who is a resident of Singapore e-mailed me a slide show  titled "What It Means to be Poor" and I can't find the original page of this in the internet. The power point presentation says that the author is Usuario. If it was really you who authored this story, it is a great lesson to be learned and I applaud you for it. I found the same story in a web page with the same title (http://www.naute.com/thinkery/poor.phtml) and here goes:

What It Means To Be Poor...

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country
with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people can be. They spent
a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very
poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"
"It was great, Dad." "Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked.
"Oh Yeah" said the son. "So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a
pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no
end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a
small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We
have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they
grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends
to protect them."

With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks dad
for showing me how poor we are."

Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don't have.
What is one person's worthless object is another's prize possession. It is all
based on one's perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all
gave thanks for all the bounty we have, instead of worrying about wanting more.
Take joy in all you have, especially your friends. Pass this message on.

Author Unknown

     Isn't this a great lesson learned? How ironic for a parent to teach his child, when he should learn first. Well, the photo slide sent to me is really so much better, and here's the link:  

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AaTnLlVfYHjlZGhmd3Q0azhfMWhwNWNnZGY3&hl=en