I Haven’t Died and Other Observations from the Bridal Shop

So I typically start my posts with a scripture, but today I’m beginning with an update because I haven’t posted in weeks. It occurred to me that my readers may have thought the worst. I assure you, I haven’t died. I haven’t misplaced my faith. I haven’t even stopped writing. I’ve just had an unforeseen pause in hitting ‘publish’.

It began with a whirlwind trip to Chicago to pick up a car for my daughter. We had a wonderful time visiting my sister but I drove home sicker than a dog. For a solid week, I clung to my mattress, unable to move, talk, or text without the world spinning and my stomach wrenching. The flu left me weakly, seven days later it was all I could do to journey to the mailbox and back, let alone our two flights of stairs up to the apartment.

I finally was well enough to accept a consultant position at a by-appointment bridal salon and I started last week. Since then, my shifts have been crammed with new knowledge and a surprising amount of physical activity. (Wedding dresses weigh so much more than you think!) Our evenings have been fantastic; most dinner hours spent catching up with old friends and our son who already lived in San Antonio. September has been blessedly full-to-the-brim and the blog has suffered.

All that said, I wanted to begin sharing a few insights I’ve already discovered in bridal salon. Today, I was reading Paul David Tripp again and the illustration leapt off the page: we are brides in a broken world, being readied for a flawless future.

"As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." (Isaiah 62:5 NIV)

We tend to imagine brides bursting with joy, bouncing into the salon with happy plans abounding. While this is sometimes the case, many more of our brides come in burdened. They may be fifteen years into a common-law marriage and their partner has finally proposed. They might be weeping from a parent who passed before they could be given away. They may be locked in a power struggle with a member of their wedding party. They may have significant body image issues. Though these women are preparing for their wedding, what I see as a consultant is so far from the perfection we come to expect when we envision a wedding. Saying ‘yes’ to the dress often comes with strings attached.

The effects of the Fall are profound. Brokenness seeps into every corner of our existence, doesn’t it? It’s blight is pervasive and dampening, yet scripture insists, we are a bride preparing for her groom. Our Savior is coming to collect us and He’s anticipating His intended without spot or wrinkle.

So we prepare.

Only we don’t hire a wedding coordinator or schedule a bridal salon appointment to pick out a dress. We aren’t touring venues or selecting flowers. We aren’t writing vows or making honeymoon arrangements.

Being the bride of Christ includes an altogether different kind of preparation. We surrender our hearts to divine rearrangement. We learn to die to self and starve our flesh. We daily peer into the mirror of scripture and as it identifies every flag of our fallen nature, we cooperate in transformation. We invite the Spirit to infill and alter, slowly remaking us into a bride worthy of bearing our groom’s name.

As we prepare, we refuse to give up and in to the brokenness that endlessly attempts to engulf us all. We tie our hearts to heaven and the hope of a wedding date already scribbled on a divine calendar. We keep our lamps trimmed ready for the bridegroom’s coming. We cooperate with the Kingdom as He makes His sovereignty known through us.

"Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!" (Matthew 25:6 NIV)

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given to her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy people.) (Revelation 19:7-8 NIV)

Lord, forgive us for growing weary amidst the brokenness we encounter every day. Fill us afresh with Your Spirit. Soothe our souls with the promise of Your return. Prick our hearts toward preparation. Remake us into a pure and spotless bride thrilled about her approaching day. Amen.