I know, I know, I got that one wrong.
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, right?
Wrong.
Lately, like once or a million times, it’s crossed my mind that 96% of my best girls are married. Or are at least well on their way to the alter. (Disclaimer: I am extremely excited for them, this is NOT a pity party).
This month, Cam and I are serving alongside one of the all girls teams on our squad, Team Unveiled. (Ironic?) We like to make cheesy jokes and talk about maybe one day being married. (Bare with me). What will he look like? What will he do? Where will we live? Will we adopt? Surely he will be a pastor… (The sources of these statements will remain anonymous.)
If you have been on Pinterest ever, you have surely seen all of the time and energy it takes to be a bride these days. The bride must spend thousands of hours mulling over every detail. What will she wear for the grooms dinner? What shoes will look best and provide ease as she walks down the aisle? Who will be standing behind her? What is the best song for them to share the first dance? What cake is tastiest? Is this the right choice? Lace or silk? Are these invitations really worth all that money? Is he really the one?Don’t even get me started on the flower arrangements!
Girls will be girls. But the flip side to all of this banter is that we already know who our real ‘groom’ is. Yes, I’m right there with you. I used to find this picture of God-as-groom-and-church-as-bride a little far-fetched, slightly bizarre, and a whole lot of confusing. Until one day I read an excerpt from a book that perfectly painted the picture for me, so much so that I had to look down and double check to see if I was actually lounging around in a wedding dress and not the same outfit I had been wearing for five days straight. (Side note: I wasn’t in the wedding dress. I was still rotting in the same sweaty, smelly, unwashed clothes. You don’t gotta look like a bride to be a bride in this one, folks!)
He stood there all morning, high upon the summit of a great desert mountain, watching intently toward the south. Finally, in late afternoon, it began to appear, first as a tiny speck on the horizon, gradually growing until it became a moving sea of humanity. It was HIS people, lately set free from slavery.
Tomorrow, He knew, He would meet with their leader on this very mount and speak to him face to face of many things that weighed on His heart.
For a moment, though, His thoughts wandered back to the garden of Eden, to the disobedience, to the horrible fall of man and the fall of all creation. He recalled again the flood and Noah. The water had hardly receded when the cycle of failure had commenced yet again.
Today, He would begin once more. And what would be the outcome?
The fleeing refugees were coming into clear focus now. He could make out Moses in the lead, the mohair tents, the cattle and sheep, even the vague outline of his people. He stared at this moving mass of humanity until the image before Him blurred and began to change in form and, finally, became but one person. His eyes now saw not a multitude of people, but only a lovely young girl, coming up from Egypt, crossing the hot sands and moving towards Him.
She will be here by evening. Soon she will enter the land I have promised to her. There she will reach full womanhood. I have waited since before eternity. I have created the cosmos for but this one purpose! I wonder…I wonder…will she love me back?
Divine Romance, Gene Edwards
I don’t know where that hits your heart. Maybe it is a slight miss. If so, read it again, slower. There is a creator of all the ends of earth, of all the stars of the sky, watching down from Heaven, with loving and longing in His eyes, waiting for us to love Him back.
Quite frankly, I think this story blows The Notebook straight out of the ever-famous, chick-flicky water scene where Noah pleads with Allie, “Get. in. the. water! Get in the water, babe.” (Sigh..)
Sometimes I wonder. Have we as a church forgotten that we are one body?? That all of God’s children, from Suburbia, USA, all the way to the slums of Kolkatta, India, make up but one body of Christ? And that one day, every people of every tongue and tribe and nation that confess that Jesus is the son of God will feel the very earth beneath their feet shake as they join together as one bride and are received into the loving arms of a Heavenly groom as He is crowned KING? Close your eyes for five seconds and imagine the heavenly ceremony.
Can you see it?
The groom is waiting. He’s waiting for us to love Him back. He is waiting for us to surrender our whole selves into the presence and power of His love through the Holy Spirit. He’s bought us with a price, and He is waiting, watching to see how we will respond. The only thing that will matter on that day is that we are completely and utterly head-over-heels in love with Him, our hearts syncopating to the beat of His through every prayer and praise and precious moment spent in His presence. Far too often, we shy away from His presence. We get right to the point of complete captivation, and then turn around, afraid maybe of what others might think. Yet, we were created but for that one purpose.
He doesn’t care about the pearls, the updo and the flower arrangements. He doesn’t care if your hair goes awry from the awful humidity. His heart is beating with anticipation, He’s never seen a more beatiful bride! For you, He has paved the aisle in gold. You were made for this. And the best part is, this isn’t for just one day. It’s for eternity. You are always the bride.
Will you love Him back??
