On Saturday morning, August 24th, Ben picked me up from my house in order to do some landscaping at an apartment complex near his house. Earlier in the week he had told me that they had asked him to help out and asked me if I would be interested in joining him. It sounded like fun, so I agreed.
On the way, Ben explained that he would have to clear some roots, so we stopped at Lowe's to get a pick-axe. I wondered if he was just going to keep the tool himself, or if the apartment complex would reimburse him for the cost, but I didn't bother asking because I knew he already had it worked out, whatever the answer was.
As we arrived at the work site, Ben informed me that we would be planting a tree. An oak tree. Never having planted a tree before, I thought it would be a pretty cool undertaking. Walking over to the site, I could see a large hole where Ben had already begun digging. There were, indeed, some roots that had to be removed, so with pick-axe in his hand and shovel in mine, we went to work.
It was a beautiful day, and while Ben focused mainly on destroying the roots on one side of the hole, I started digging on the opposite side as best as I could. With Ben swinging his axe, there wasn't much I could do without getting in the way. After he had gotten most of the roots on his side, he just kept going at it in the same spot, so I eventually asked him what he wanted me to do.
He directed me to a spot and told me to dig there. Before long, I began uncovering bits of plastic. "What could this be?" I wondered, and cautiously continued unearthing my discovery. Soon I could make out a grey shopping bag with some kind of box inside and I began to feel a little uncomfortable, not sure what we had stumbled upon. As my mind raced to different sketchy possibilities, I said, "This is really shady Ben," and took a step back, not about to touch or open the bag. But Ben bravely stepped into the hole with a smile on his face, reassuring me with, "Let's just open it and see what it is."
Untying the bag, he pulled out a wooden box, revealing a heart-shaped frame on the lid, with a picture inside. It wasn't until he handed it to me that I saw it was a picture of us. Then it clicked. He was about to propose! Immediately my heart began pounding, my hands shook, and my mind raced. All I could think was, "This is really happening, this is really happening, this is really happening!" In complete shock and excitement, I managed only to stammer, "Oh.... oh Ben..... oh.... really Ben?"
As I reeled from the shock, Ben got a little concerned and directed us toward a nearby bench so I could sit down. Still clutching the box, I stared at him, trying to take it all in. He asked, "Aren't you going to open it?" I looked down at the box and began to do just that when he began speaking. Not wanting to miss a single detail, I stopped and gazed back at him as he looked me in the eye and told me for the first time that he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Then, after getting down on one knee in front of me, he asked me to marry him. "Of course!" I beamed, "of course, of course, of course!"
After another reminder, I finished opening the box. Inside was the ring, and after putting it on, Ben explained why he wanted to plant an oak tree together:
Isaiah 61 talks about Christ making His people into "oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified," and that through them He displays His glory to the nations. He told me that he wanted our marriage to be a reflection of that righteousness as we display the gospel to each other and to others.
Our little tree, which represents our marriage, is surrounded by many older and stronger oak trees in the apartment complex that are representative of many older, stronger marriages around us. These marriages have served as examples to us and one day, by the grace of God, our marriage will be just as strong.
