This past Friday Nathan and I attended a beautiful outdoor wedding. The weather was perfect for it! Lights glowed softly up above us in the fading evening light. The bride and groom stood in front of a huge mirror decorated with draping greenery. You could see there every reaction. The smiles, the nods, and the occasional tear.
I didn't realize till half way through the ceremony that this was the first wedding Nathan and I had attended since our own wedding. On the way home later that night we both commented on how different it was to attend a wedding now that we're married. I've been to and in my fair share of weddings. I love them! The ones I've been to have always been happy and festive. There are always people to see and joys to be shared.
When I would go as a child I would wonder how it felt to be that beautiful bride in white. I would wonder what must she be feeling as she glides down the isle to marry the man she loves? What would all of this feel like? What is it going to be like when I get to have a wedding of my own?
Friday night I could not stop thinking of our own wedding. How wonderful it had been. I watched the bride walk down the isle with new eyes. I knew now what she was thinking and feeling. The excitement that flows through you is like no other! It's something completely new and you just want to savor that moment. You look down the isle and see your groom smiling at you and everything else just sort of...fades away. And you realize this is the moment you've both been waiting for. You are finally getting married! And yet, it doesn't seem real. But it is! It is so very real. It is so very wonderful.
Nathan said for him he watched the groom Friday night and wondered what thoughts were going through his mind. What was he feeling at this moment? He remembered he himself standing there waiting for me to walk down the isle to him. It really was a completely different experience from this side of the fence. Yet no less wonderful. I had sweet things to be reminded of instead of things to be longed for. I had a sense of knowing what the bride would feel when she attended her first wedding as a wife herself. I had Nathan beside me to smile at knowingly. It felt good. I like this wife thing! ;)
Knowing what it feels like to be engaged and so badly wanting to be married, I've gotten a small taste of what Jesus feels right now. Oh what longing! You are so ready for what you know is going to happen to finally happen! But Jesus doesn't even know when He'll get to come for His bride. He doesn't know yet His wedding date. Only the Father does. So think how much more intense that must be! You are longing, waiting, wanting for this marriage to happen yet you don't know when. You just know it will. There is a very powerful, very long awaited love in the heart of our Groom. Our savor is ready to come for His bride when the Father gives the go ahead. And it's soon!
Matthew 24:36-44 "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day you Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let the house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."
I hope this has been encouraging to you! God bless!
