Getting Married

I shamefully realized today that it has been over a month (almost two months) since I last posted anything. Why the lack of activity on the Blog?

...well, I got married. And my mind, and my time, was consumed with trying to get all of the last minute details ready for the wedding. I worked and worked trying to make sure that everything would be just right. I scoured the Bridal Magazines, looking at every checklist, trying to determine if I was on the right track, and trying to figure out what I had forgotten. It seemed to me like a massive undertaking, and without the help of my family and friends, the wedding would not have happened.

In the weeks leading up to the wedding, I heard lots of "wedding horror stories" about how badly things can go at a wedding. I was determined to maintain calm on the day of the wedding. I told myself, "something will probably go wrong, but it doesn't have to ruin your day. The most important thing that has to happen is that at the end of the day, you actually are married." I told myself that over and over. Focus on what is truly important. But, it wasn't always easy.

I think that living a life following God is similar to this process. We all desperately desire to have that perfect life, wrongly assuming that after becoming a Christian, life will somehow be perfect. But, just as no wedding is perfect, no Christian is perfect either. As United Methodists, we are of course, on the road to perfection, but it is not always an easy journey.

I did some research and looked up every time the word "bride" is used in the Bible. I found some interesting verses. Many of them describe us dressing up as the Bride getting ready to meet God. Others describe God longing to be in relationship with us just as a bridegroom longs for his bride.

We want the Christian life to be perfect, but there will certainly be moments of difficulty. The most important thing is focusing on what is truly important. The important thing is not the little details of the Christian life. The important thing is building our relationship with with our "bridegroom" (God).


"I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." -- Isaiah 61:10

"No longer will they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah,
and your land Beulah ;
for the LORD will take delight in you,
and your land will be married.
As a young man marries a maiden,
so will your sons marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you." -- Isaiah 62:4-5



"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." --Revelation 21:2-3