I have five weddings in two months and I feel like my carnie size feet are disliking the stiletto-heel time they are facing. I need a foot rub…and a boyfriend to do it for free. I’m taking applications.

Boyfriend or not, there is a lot going on at a wedding ceremony, which can leave little time for reflection. It can be especially hard for me when I am so busy stuffing my face with mini-crab cakes and lil’ smokies.

(note: of the two weddings so far there have not been lil’ smokies. This is leaving Lindsay, Katie, and Michelle responsible to make my dreams come true. Once you read this ladies, you are responsible…for my happiness.)

Lil’ smokies left the brain momentarily last weekend during a reading given at my friend Justin and Trisha’s wedding. This was the last half of the reading:

…This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
Knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
Between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.
-The Prayer of Oscar Romero

After the ceremony, I ran into my college professor Dr. Dunn. As we were catching up and reminiscing about how I was her absolute favorite student of all time*, she mentioned that she had come from a funeral earlier in the day. Later, it struck me as one of those weird dichotomies of life.

There are two main times in a person’s life where those who know them will gather: Wedding and Funeral. I thought about this when I re-read The Prayer of Oscar Romero. (Who by the way, was an Archbishop of El Salvador and assassinated while saying mass. Pleasant.) 

My thought: A wedding is an exciting celebration of life and love. Will my funeral have the same elements?

Justin and Trisha married each other because of their deep love for one another, but also their mutual desire to live life working for social justice. Sometimes when people look at all the strengths Justin and Trisha have as a team, it can be overwhelming. It’s easy to assume that people like Justin and Trisha were just given gifts that we don’t have, so therefore we don’t need to take responsibility.

For me, Romero’s prayer was so energizing because it lifted a weight from my shoulders, yet induced responsibility. My favorite line was, “we can not do everything, and there is a sense of liberation.”

I have no idea what part I will play in the world’s future. It could be planting, watering or harvesting. But I want to always remember, that I am going to die.

That thought can some days cause me to shut down and not care about anyone or anything, and other days make me feel like I have to do and be everything. When I want to take action I can be overwhelmed with all the problems in the world, I can complain about the mistakes of past generations and leaders and I can live in fear of what my children will face.

But what will that do if I do nothing?