Tilling.The.Soul.

What a weekend! My family & I officially began the planning process...and to my surprise, I got a lot more stressed out than I ever intended to! Things that had only been ideas or opinions, began to take shape as actual concepts of my Big Day. I had a lovely vision in my head of everything falling together perfectly, like a Taylor Swift music video. But that is not how it works at all. There are budgets. And Mothers. And guest lists that are 100 people too long. After a while...everything began to take the shape of one. big. dollar sign.

Cha-ching.

Needless to say, I felt myself grow a bit discouraged as the weekend went on. I felt almost guilty in a way, that I could feel anything but pure excitement and bliss during this time. Until that point, I had held tight to the mindset that there was no way the trivial details of my wedding would get in the way of my spiritual and emotional preparation for my marriage. Thankfully, I stumbled upon this quote to help me regain my mental bearings.

[A wedding is not a marriage. A wedding is only the beginning of an undertaking that may or may not, someday, develop into a marriage. What the couple have on their wedding day is not the key to a beautiful garden, but just a vacant lot and a few gardening tools. --David & Vera Mace]

My thoughts, my prayers, my energy...should all really be directed towards what will happen in the days and years after our wedding. After all, I've never had a garden but I am willing to bet that it is the tilling of the soil, the planting and watering of the seeds, the patience required to watch things grow...that require the most work & attention. My prayer is that I may begin tilling my soul. To prepare my heart for lots of new, exciting, & challenging things, to take root. I know I am bound to become discouraged again...but as for tonight, I have found renewed strength & encouragement; strength to keep my thoughts from the things that don't really matter, and encouragement to prepare my heart for the things that really do.