Everyone knows weddings can be stressful and chaotic. Throw in having one at your home or farm, and the anxiety levels skyrocket. Honey-do lists are the length of a college term paper, the house and machinery shed must be power-washed, and you accept the neighbor’s offer to put in new landscaping in exchange for freezer pork.

While COVID-19 derailed our daughter Lillian’s plans for a big church wedding, it also brought unexpected blessings. My husband, Terry, and I encouraged Lillian and her now-husband Kegan to cancel the church and drop from 300 to 100 people.

The couple asked if they could have the wedding and reception at the farm. Terry said “yes” — if he could make them a cross for the ceremony in our yard. The kids loved the idea.

One morning, I heard the noise of the skid steer and voices outside my bedroom window. Terry and Kegan were knocking down two old canning sheds and cleaning off the site. The next morning, I heard Terry pounding and hammering near the window. He came in a few hours later and said, “Honey, it’s done. Go look at it.”

Terry had fashioned one of the shed’s wood beams into a beautiful 12-foot-tall-by-8-foot-wide cross. As I walked up to it lying on the ground, the Lord spoke into my heart, saying, “This is what it’s all about. I am the center of the marriage and the wedding. It’s all about me.”

Truer words were never spoken. The wedding, reception and following Sunday morning brunch went off without a hitch. The couple is happily married. The cross stands permanently in the center of our yard, reminding us our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is in control of all things.

Hayhurst writes from Terre Haute, Ind.