That Moment

Until the movie 27 Dresses came out, I thought I was the only one who loved to watch the groom in that first moment he saw his bride.

I was at a wedding last night, and the moment was no exception. In this case, I had known the groom for four years, before he pursued his wife. He pursued this woman for seven months before she was even willing to consider him. To be fair, they lived on different continents, but I've watched their relationship unfold across the distance and this moment truly was a beautiful moment.

For many years, I would always watch that moment somewhat wistfully. "Will it ever be me?" is what I, and I'm sure many other single women, always think when we see that.

But a few years ago, as I started to understand better that marriage is a picture, a metaphor and an illustration, I started to see that weddings are an opportunity for me to see the spiritual reality of what happens when I am in Christ.

That bride walking down the aisle IS me. The groom beaming back at me and delighting in me is God the Father, who has such a deep love for me and pursued me by sending his Son to bear the burden and punishment of my sin. And I am clothed beautifully and radiant in white, not because of what I have done, but because Jesus exchanged the filthy rags of my sin and rebellion for his radiant white garment of a life lived in perfect submission to the Father.

And so, while I won't deny that I would love to physically don a beautiful white gown on this side of eternity, I bask in the joy that every time I see a bride walk down the aisle, it's a picture of my beauty and how the Father sees me and delights in me. It's also a reminder that the day where I experience that in a beauty and reality that transcends what we see here on earth is coming.