Our Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

 

 ‘Bells will ring out to announce the blessed union.’

I do love fairytales; if I had to choose my favorite, I couldn’t. It would be very difficult to choose between Beauty and the Beast, The little Mermaid, Cinderella or Aladdin. But I do love the endings with bells ringing to announce their love, coming together in union.

Finding love in the real world though is very hard work and it takes a lot of effort, and patience.

I remember seeing an article on ways to prepare yourself for the one, to attract your perfect partner, the one that you would marry.  In the article it suggested such things as; clear space in your wardrobe, empty a draw and place a towel, deodorant, toothbrush, underwear and to prepare yourself by getting in shape, making sure you are well groomed, have a dream job, live a life spiritually, the more opened you are, the more positive energy you put out to the universe, the more chance you have for that one special person who will be your husband, father of your children to enter your life.

I was bathing my children on Sunday and they asked me; “How do you find true love? I didn’t really have an answer but it makes you think, how do we get ready for love that is meant to be? Why are we lead on a path that leads us to our destiny, to our fate? Then when we get to our destiny, we find our perfect partner; our bride, bridesmaid or bridegroom and they are not ready. They need to grow more; they need to be more prepared. It’s true though, there will come a time, and we will not know either the day or hour, all we need to do is be ready and waiting. What seems to be a little bit of a letdown, so disappointing is we have been on this journey and we are made to wait even longer. Life is short, I don’t want to waste another moment waiting around, wishing and hoping. I am ready now and the time is now for an everlasting love, a love that can reflect the love of God for the whole world to see.

So, what is a bridegroom? What is a bridesmaid? How can we prepare, and be ready for the coming of the bridegroom?

Firstly, Bridegroom appears in the Old Testament and the New Testament meaning, the husband of the bride. Bridegroom is a description used for God and especially for Jesus Christ, for we are the bride and Jesus is our bridegroom. I did though find a quote saying the following; “Jesus is the bridegroom, the church is the bride, the disciples are the wedding guests and John the Baptist is the best man.”  Author Unknown. I was reading Revelations and in chapter 19, verse 7-9 it says; ‘Let us be glad and joyful and give praise to God, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb. His bride is ready and she has been able to dress herself in dazzling white linen, because her linen is made of the good deeds of the saints. The angel said, “Write this; Happy are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb” and he added, “all the things you have written are true messages from God.”

Secondly, a little knowledge I stumbled across, Bridesmaids have always served the bride and the story of Jacob in the bible and his two wives, Leah and Rachel, both were escorted to the wedding by their own servants, the bride’s maids. Genesis 29.

Revelation 21:2, I saw the holy city, and the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as beautiful as a bride all dressed for her husband.

Women of Faith and Hope, are we sensible in our preparation for the return of Jesus, our bridegroom? Or are we being foolish and reckless? I don’t believe we need to follow that article however, we could clear space in our hearts, and we could empty ourselves and replace the empty with love, faith, and hope. We could get in shape by practicing our faith, worshipping, praying, reading scripture and giving more time to God. We could make good choices, be kinder, compassionate and loving towards our families, our neighbors. We need to give God the permission to guide us in the right direction in life, to hold those doors wide open for us to enter through and our spiritual life, we need to give it fuel, nourishment to keep it going, and we need the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. If we give our lives, our bodies this fuel and nourishment, if this is the way to prepare for the return of the bridegroom then our lamps will be burning always, our lights will shine so bright for the return of Christ who will come in glory.

I kind of feel sorry for those bridesmaids, who weren’t ready and arrived later but I guess Jesus is saying, “I will come back but you need to be ready, to be prepared for the time will come, though you do not know either the day or the hour, be ready.” Matthew 25:1-13.

Women of Faith and Hope, being a bride means lots of preparation, though with the help of our bridesmaids, maybe we won’t be so burnt out and running on nothing. It’s ok to stop and rest and give yourself the time to regroup, refocus, and to reflect on the journey so far.

Isaiah 60:1-3

Arise, shine out, for your light has come, the glory of the LORD is rising on you, though the night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples. Above you the LORD now rises and above you his glory appears. The nations come to your light and kings to your dawning brightness.

May God Bless Always, Women of Faith and Hope.

Written and created by My Mother Rose.