Save The Date

We just recently got Rob and Ayla's Save the Date cards in the mail! So exciting to realize we are getting ever closer to this special day! Less than seven months away already and little more than 200 days! Woo hoo. The Save the Dates cards are precious in that they feature Ayla and Rob on the beach spelling out L-O-V-E with their hands while the sun sets behind them. I shot that photo rather randomly last August when I visited Ayla for her birthday. So excited that it's on the Save The Date card! And mailed out seven months ahead, this gives out-of-town guests - which is just about everyone - plenty of time to prepare to see if a trip to Florida is possible this October.

Save the Dates are a relatively new thing in the wedding world ... pretty much within the last decade. They aren't a necessary thing, but they sure are helpful for family and friends out of town making travel plans. They simply provide the names, date and event (sometimes the city) so people are aware. Oftentimes a wedding website address might be included. Sometimes they are postcards (like Ayla and Rob's), greeting cards or even magnets to put on the fridge. They are quite helpful to guests.

Most wedding sites say with invitations sent 2-3 months in advance, Save the Dates should be sent out anywhere from 6-9 months ahead of time. It's the couple's way of saying, "Hey - get this on your calendar and don't plan anything else, cause we are getting married and we want you there!" With this advance notice, people can therefore plan air travel or book hotels for the stay.

Anton and Kayla have discussed sending out their Save the Date (now set for Aug. 13, 2016) at Christmas time, and they have a clever idea planned for it. With all Kayla's extended family in Mississippi, Illinois or Florida and all Anton's in Iowa, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, this kind of advance notice is necessary.

Even God used "Save The Date"s in Scripture. For all the festivals the Lord wanted the Israelites to celebrate, he reminded them in the Word what those dates would be. Passover was the fourteenth day of the first month of the year (Numbers 9:4). The Festival of Weeks was seven weeks after harvesting grain (Deuteronomy 16: 9) The Feast of Tabernacles was "seven days after gathering produce of the threshing floor and your winepress." (Deuteronomy 16:13). It was God's way of saying Save This Date! Be ready to worship and celebrate! Do not plan anything else for this day. There is one particular day the Lord asks Christians to be prepared for and that is the Day of The Lord. It is near, he says repeatedly throughout Scripture (although "near" for God can be thousands of years - 2 Peter 3:8) found in Isaiah 13:6, Ezekiel 30:3, Joel 1:15, Obadiah 1:15, Zephaniah 1:7 and 14 - notice all books of prophesy. He also says it will come like a "thief in the night" (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2). What is the day of the Lord ... it's the beginning of the end times. It's a time when final judgment will take place all "all who call on the Lord will be saved" (Joel 2:32).

This is a day the Lord tells us we need to be constantly ready for, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-9, "So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." How are you we to ready? The text goes on to say, "Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil."

Be ready for the Day of the Lord by being the loving Christian God intends ... you may be the only Save The Date card people see with regards to this day.

Discussion: What are some clever Save The Dates you have seen? How are you saving the date by being ready for the Day of the Lord?

Prayer: Father, help us in word and action to be obedient to you as a witness to your children. The Day of the Lord is near! May we be ever ready and help your children be likewise. In Jesus, Amen.