It was scorching hot today. An excessive heat warning was forecasted and for once, they hit the nail on the head. It would have been appropriate to take beach towels to the wedding we attended today since the reception was held outside under a big white tent. We could have absorbed a lot of sweat with those towels.
The ceremony took place in a comfortably cool sanctuary. Thank God for whoever invented air conditioning. (Now all we need is to figure out how to cool the outside air on a hot day).
I thought about taking kleenexes along just in case I might get teary, but decided not to today.
Ever since my dad died I get really weepy at weddings. The father of the bride comes down the aisle with his daughter by his side and I loose it immediately. It's one of those times where the water faucet is turned on and it's hard to stop the tears. At least for me. But since I only knew the groom, I figured I'd be safe.
Bad decision. Note to self. From now on, just take kleenexes along to EVERY wedding.
What I witnessed today was so beautiful I don't even know if I can describe it here, but I'll try.
It all started when I saw the face of the groom as his bride appeared in the doorway ready to come to his side. It was obvious he was focused on one thing. HER!
I began to think about Jesus and how we are his bride. I wondered if he looks at me with that kind of longing, so anxious to see me coming down the aisle into his arms after a life-time here on earth.
Then there was the way he committed himself to her as he read the vows he had obviously poured over long before he spoke them out loud. The tears ran down his face and his voice cracked through most of the promises and I couldn't stop my own tears.
Surely Jesus must have had (and still has) the same emotions for us as he committed his love and life to us long ago. He must be so anxious for the wedding day to come when we will finally be united with him and sit down together for our marriage feast and celebration.
Any of us that have been married any length of time know that sometimes in marriage we hit bumps in the road and the glory of the wedding day when we meant every word we said in our vows is long gone. We struggle to love each other that deeply day in and day out. Life gets busy and hard.
Tom and I will soon celebrate 21 years of marriage. It hasn't always been easy, but I must say that my love for him is so much deeper than before. We've weathered so much together. We've had the comfortable cool of the beautiful air conditioned sanctuary with beautiful flowers filling the room. We've also experienced the grilling hot temperatures of the outside tent when things weren't so cool and wonderful. That's what 'weathering life' together is all about.
I guess that's how my walk with Jesus is too. There are great days and not so great days, but every now and then it's nice to take an afternoon, go to a wedding and be reminded that I have a bridge-groom waiting for me at the end of life's aisle. I want to keep my eyes focused on him as much as he must have his eyes focused on me as I make my way toward him.
Thanks Sam and Alecia for the beautiful reminder of Jesus' love for me. It was certainly a wedding to remember.
