Weddings, marriage, and some other gushy stuff

I was thinking today about marriage - mainly weddings.  My wedding to be specific.  Now don't get all excited - I am announcing NOTHING.  But I thought I'd share my ponderings with you today just because. Well, why NOT?  This is a blog - right?  


In the last couple years I feel like I've been more "ready" to get married than ever before IN MY LIFE.  The funny thing is, I also feel like there's a narrow window of opportunity, if you will, and if I don't meet someone in this window, I'll move on and that will be that.  It's kind of an odd thought/feeling really.  But, if you know me at all, you'll know that I've never been one of "those girls" who HAD to be married or life was just a disaster.  Not at all.  In fact, the feeling of really WANTING to be married is kinda new in some ways.  I have always looked at it more as potentially a huge benefit to my ministry calling if anything - someone to share all that with, etc.  Well, that, and of course someone to watch my stuff in the airport when I need to go to the bathroom, or wander the shops.  But I guess the part about the threat of not being on the same page once you ARE married still freaks me out a bit, and makes me think - nope!  I'm good to go just like I am thanks!!  ha.  When I think about how great it COULD be though if you ARE on the same page, going in the same direction… then I'm like - okay.  I'm up for that!  :)  I guess ultimately it doesn't matter what I'm up for though, or where I'm at with it all… God will either bring someone along or not. Plain and simple.  My thinking has been more like… okay God.  If that's what you WANT, then I just want to let you know I'm good with that.  Well, as long as he's not shorter than I am.  EEK.  


So I was having some time with the Lord this morning, and was thinking about the whole marriage deal - and how that analogy is used so much in the Bible when describing our relationship with Jesus.  That got me thinking about all the crazy stuff going on in the world… flooding in Australia, earthquakes in Christchurch, bizarre over the top snow and winter stuff in the USA, shootings in Arizona, and wherever it just was that kid shot up another school and then killed himself, people STILL dying of curable diseases and lack of clean water around the world, babies being left in street gutters, 400 shacks being burnt to the ground displacing hundreds of people in a township in South Africa, (like life isn't hard enough already for them!), this next generation having the attitude of "as long as you're HONEST with me it doesn't matter who you are, or what you believe".  Crazy.  All of it.  


The Bible says to watch and be ready when you see all these things happening because it means HE is coming back soon!!  Coming back to take His bride… those of us who He has called His own.  The culmination of a waiting period that in our limited view has been the waiting of MANY lifetimes.  So I thought hmm.  My wedding IS coming up one of these days - the final big deal wedding, where it will all be done and over with here on earth like we know it.  The most extravagant and over-the-top wedding anyone has EVER seen!  And I thought… am I ready??  Am I preparing myself for that day when I will be in my white flowing gown standing at the back of the church ready to walk down the aisle and meet my fiance who I love more than life itself?  Or… am I freaking out, frantically trying to wipe the dirt off my face, and grab something clean to wear as I run down the street barefoot to just GET THERE?  Or, worse yet, sitting on a chair in the back yard, in shorts and a tank top fiddling around with who knows what, while everyone is at the church waiting for me…without a clue today is the day?  Do I want this crazy mess of life right now to just be OVER, or am I so flippin excited that I will one day soon get to be with my beloved that nothing else really matters….?  Am I doing my level best to look absolutely stunning to him when he gets that first glimpse of me at the back of the church?  Or am I so blah about it all that I kinda go - *yawn* Let me know when you want me.  hmm.  


I got excited today as we sat and talked!  Excited to think about being with Jesus for all eternity!!  Really, that term "all eternity" is something my finite brain can't comprehend, but I know it's a pickin long time!  No more pain, no more suffering, no more loss, no more conflict, no more fear, no more inadequacy, no more need to loose weight, get fit, or deal with some bizarre incurable disease, no more pain from emotional hurt, no more victimization or abuse, no more enemies or the ultimate enemy trying to lure us into things that will destroy us inside and out, nor more tears and sadness, no more trying to figure out what it is I'm supposed to DO with my life making sure I'm still in the calling God has for me, NO MORE.  Gone.  Poof.  Done.

Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens,

   “It has come at last—
      salvation and power
   and the Kingdom of our God,
      and the authority of his Christ.
   For the accuser of our brothers and sisters
      has been thrown down to earth—
   the one who accuses them
      before our God day and night.
 ¹¹ And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb
      and by their testimony.
   And they did not love their lives so much
      that they were afraid to die.
 ¹² Therefore, rejoice, O heavens!
      And you who live in the heavens, rejoice!
   But terror will come on the earth and the sea,
      for the devil has come down to you in great anger,
      knowing that he has little time.”  Rev. 12:20-12

You've heard it said many times I'm sure… look around!  The end is coming!  Will it be in our generation?  No one can say for sure.  Every generation thinks it is going to happen in their lifetime.  And one of these days, someone will be right!  So I guess the question put to us all is - do we want to get married, and are we getting ready for that incredible day?  This is our window of opportunity.  Let's make the most of it.