Love and Lights

This Christmas Season, I’ve been looking at the Story through some of its memorable moments. There is something about the holidays, travel, and family that is a recipe for making vivid memories. The circumstances surrounding the first Christmas were certainly the stuff that memories are made of! Perhaps you can think back over past Christmases and recollect memories that evoke a range of emotions. Over the next few weeks, I’ll share a few of my favorite Christmas memories. I encourage you to write out a few of your own as well. Posterity needs those memories! 

Bethany grew up in the Christmas town of Natchitoches, LA. The city motto is “The City of Lights.” When it comes to Christmas, this town doesn’t play. Every December weekend, this quiet, bed-and-breakfast community bursts forth with illuminations that could drown out the strip of Las Vegas. It’s a community-wide ritual of sorts that draws in people from across the country, but it’s a rhythm of life for the citizens of Natchitoches. Their pride and joy is the Christmas Festival!  

When I decided to ask for Bethany’s hand in marriage, I knew the Christmas Festival would be the most idyllic time. I locked in December 2005 as the target proposal date and Natchitoches as the location. I quickly began to get matters in order. 

Saturday, December 10, was selected, and I began clandestinely notifying family and friends. I had talked with my grandfather in Alabama about my intentions, and my grandparents wanted us to have their wedding rings. They had recently celebrated their 50th Anniversary and intended to give me their original rings when I found Mrs. Right. With the ring secured, I made plans to begin the proposal by gifting Bethany a Bible with her “new” name etched on the cover, Bethany Kate Rush. 

I was so ready and eager when the day arrived that I got a ticket driving down to Natchitoches from the city I was working in. Memories! When I got to town, I stopped by my dad’s office. He was and is the pastor of the church Bethany grew up in, First Baptist Church of Natchitoches. He let me put some flowers and the gift-wrapped Bible on the sanctuary stage and gave me a key. I took off for Bethany’s house just across the river from the church. 

We spent that evening at the Christmas Festival. I was trying to keep my funnel cake down, but how do you focus when you know you’re about to ask the most important question you’ll ever ask another human being? It took extreme dedication and focus, but I finally got the funnel cake down. I still had to convince her to go with me to the church, and it’s difficult to pull a Christmas Belle away from the Christmas Festival. I conjured up the most plausible excuse I could think of and told her I had to use the restroom.

We walked hand in hand one block to the beautifully imposing Romanesque Revival Style church. The exterior and interior were decorated with lush green garland and wreaths with splashes of red bows. When I turned on the sanctuary lights, Bethany was thoroughly confused as to what was occurring. We walked up to the stage and found the gift with her name on it. She opened it to discover the Bible with her soon-to-be new name. I still remember the look of confusion as she sat holding the Bible, but I was at the point of no return. I got down on my knee and reminded her that this was the place she’d been baptized and grown up, and this was the place I intended to marry her. Then I said, “Bethany Kate Robertson, will you marry me?” I’m happy to announce that she said, “Yes”!

I really can’t believe it’s been 20 years ago this December that we got engaged! Marriage is the best and most difficult thing any two people can ever do. Over the years, we’ve grown into a party of 5 and made lots of memories around the world. But nothing tops the Christmas memory of December 10, 2005. God and the city of lights gave me a priceless gift. I’m still thinking about that funnel cake, but even more the woman who was holding that and my heart in her hands.