Have you ever entered into a relationship or business or gone to a new place and expected certain benefits to accrue to you as a result?  Were these benefits implied or seemingly explicit?

Matrimonium ad morganaticam means marriage with a morning gift.  It was a term applied (and may still be applied) in royal marriages.  Essentially if a king or ranking royal with a hereditary title or titles marries someone who is not a peer and inferior in rank then his or her progeny will not receive the titles or other designations that would normally accrue to them.  The new spouse would have the “morning gift” of being married to the royal and that is all.  An example of this would be Winston Churchill who descended from the Duke of Marlborough, but whose mother was an American.  Churchill was a commoner yet most of us would agree that he was not common at all.

In my life I have entered into churches, businesses, or friendships to be “married” to the ideal I had about the money or relationships or prestige I would receive.  Many times through my false expectations even the “morning gift” was no gift at all.  Thankfully I have been able to go back through some of these circumstances in my life and reevaluate them or myself with a healthier perspective.

When I was 20 years old, I became an Amway distributor.  I had met some financially successful people in the business and being broke was a financial goal from my existing financial situation.  I spent a lot of money of gas, books, tapes,  and meetings.  I didn’t spend so much on product (though I still have some ZOOM in my basement which we use).  In the spring of 1996 I left the business.  My morning gift was being affiliated with some of these successful people with zero monetary fruit in my life.

However, I learned a great deal, I met my wife, I still have close friends and acquaintances, I spent a lot of time with my dad, and I learned how to budget my money.  I also learned that I did not consistently and persistently do the things which were needed to be a viable and profitable Amway business person.

Learning this particular lesson was not something I was prepared to do quickly though.  I was a member of a large and influential church.  Eventually I became a staff member and was promoted twice going from a janitorial lead, to distribution assistant, to bookstore manager.  I was doing well in the eyes of others, but the work of the ministry was sucking the oysters right out of my shell.   To compound the issue, I never had relationship with the people I wanted to be known to be in fellowship (read: the senior pastor).  Once again even the morning gift was a trinket I disdained and discarded.

I am the one that let the work associated with ministry overtake me.  I wasn’t in the minsitry, but I was working for one.  I hated it because it didn’t line up with my gifts and talents though I was making it work. 

Finally there is my relationship with Christ.  He met me where I was at and I accepted His offering of forgiveness.  I made Him Lord or, at least, told myself I did.  My years of following Christ have closely resembled the roads I travelled on in rural Guatemala-many bumps, potholes, and slippery spots followed by amazing vistas, outlooks, picturesque stopping points.

However, He offered me many promises and following the analogy, many hereditary blessings such as:  “His yoke is easy and His burden is light; all of those heavy laden can come unto Him and be given rest.” “He gives peaceful sleep to those He loves.” “He will uphold me with His righteous right hand.”  “Only with my eye shall I see the reward of the wicked.”  “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”  “With Him all things are possible to me.”  “I can be renewed in the spirit of my mind and know His good, pleasing, and perfect will for my life.”  “He came that I might have life and more abundantly.”  And so on….

I am the one though that took his lifetime gift and made it morganatic.  I am the one who was the common one.  I didn’t realize that He through His righteousness made me a joint heir and thus uncommon.

I choose today to trust God and take Him at His word.  I choose today to receive His lifetime gift and not just the Matrimonium ad morganaticam I received upon acceptance of His forgiveness for my sins.

Have an excellent day!