Drew held Alli’s hand in his own. He led her down the sidewalk, looking into her eyes and smiling. All of a sudden, Drew seemed startled and looked over his shoulder. He looked back at Alli, then back over his shoulder. We were starting to wonder what the heck was going on, until we lowered our cameras and noticed that someone from Saville Dam maintenance had opened the door to the filtering plant and was gathering his equipment to lock up and leave. Once we realized what had happened, we laughed and waited for him to walk back to his truck.
As he passed us, we joked that we didn’t realize the doors actually opened! He smiled. We asked what was inside, and he explained that the filtering gates are in there. The dam was built back in the 1940s, when our modern technologies were not available, so this dam was built with hard work and manual labor. He asked us, “Could you imagine if people needed to work like that today? We have so much equipment and machines that help us. There’s not hard labor put in like this anymore.”
Building a dam today might not be such hard labor, but we immediately thought of something that is— marriage! Marriage doesn’t come with shortcuts, and if you try to take one, it very likely won’t work. To succeed in marriage, you need to put in hard work and labor. Like all vocations, it requires you to lay down your life selflessly for others. Spouse and children are served before you serve yourself. When you put in the hard work, you have tremendous results. Most marriages that look beautiful on the outside have gotten there from years of hard work and sacrifice, just like the Saville Dam.
Alli and Drew, we are so excited for you to take up the cross which is your vocation and follow Christ. It is amazing what some hard work will do! When times get tough— which they will, because we are fallen humans— just remember the beauty of the Saville Dam and all of the treacherous labor that went into building it! We are cheering for you and will be praying for you as you continue on your journey towards marriage. We cannot wait to celebrate with you as you enter your vocation in Alabama in February!
Love,
Amy and Kyle
