Over The Threshold

Ever have this happen where you need to go get something and you get to the other room and forgot what you were there to get? So you go back where you came from and you remember. Psychologists say it's because you went over a threshold. Apparently our minds see a threshold as a border or closing to the events that just happened. Which is why when you go back in the room you remember. It's almost like you left your thought there.

Ancient cultures would say it's because evil spirits lie in wait in the threshold. And it's this same reasoning for why grooms would carry their brides over the threshold into their new home or wherever their first night of their honeymoon was. You sure didn't want evil spirits to mess with that first wedding night. Plus, if the bride tripped over the threshold it was considered bad luck.

Other traditions say the groom carried the bride in because she dragged into the bridal chamber kicking and screaming. In days of arranged marriages, we could see this making sense. They weren't in any hurry to get to "know" their husbands.

A threshold, the dictionary says, is more than just a strip of wood across the bottom of a doorway ... it's a point of entry or a beginning. And for weddings this couldn't be more true in starting a marriage.

Carrying over the threshold requires a groom able to carry his bride. I remember your poor Daddy struggling to carry this bride and her full wedding gown (let's attribute the extra weight to that, shall we) out of the reception hall. If it's a bit much, perhaps you both could jump the threshold.

So whether you are protecting your bride from threshold gremlins or being debonaire in keeping the tradition, might be time to do muscle building in preparation ... you sure don't want to fall and injure each other.

But it is a sweet sign of protection, so charming and a wonderful reminder of the Footprints poem where Jesus explains that where one set of footprints were seen along the beach is where He carried us in our low moments. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help." Isn't a marriage a sweet example of this?

Discussion: Do you plan on being carried over the threshold? What do you think of the tradition?

Prayer: Father we thank you that in our low moments you carry us, protect us and love us so much. May we likewise be there for each other to support and uplift. In Jesus name, Amen.