4 Ways Engagement is Like the Christian Life

There are a few things I've learned from being engaged that I understand better in this state, than in the past. As I live in this waiting period I've reflected on how similar this time of my life has been filled with many ups and downs, pointlessness, eagerness, temptation, bitterness, etc. I find it is much like a concentrated Christian lifespan....

1. Emotional roller coaster  

Dreaming about the perfect wedding on Pinterest was fun. Then I got engaged and had to plan an actual wedding. Yikes. So many of my insecurities, expectations, sin issues, etc. came boiling to the surface. I had this idea in my head that everyone I knew expected me to have this perfectly crafty vintage-y wedding because of the way I decorate everything else in my life. I wanted people to be impressed with me. I wanted a WHOLE lot of Bible and Gospel in the wedding, which isn't bad right? Well it is when you do it so people will be blown away by your theology. I got into countless fights with my parents about guest list, food, bridesmaids, you name it. I forgot that it was my wedding, not theirs and that it's ok to disappoint people every now and then.

I've lost sight of what our wedding is actually about; Christ and his Church, Mike and I becoming one. I've cried, yelled, waited, screamed, napped, developed insomnia, forgotten, laughed, punched things, cut myself (on accident), giggled. These 7 months aren't much different than the Christian life because, honestly, I need Christ to get me past this roller coaster of emotions and stress each day. He keeps showing me knew things about my sinful self and about his steadfastness. He is preparing me for such a time as this, just as he is preparing me for His return.

2. Waiting...

I've been waiting a lot. Even if this engagement is a fairly short one, the closer we get, the further away the day seems. I'm eager and scared all at once. Some days I feel to prepared to be a wife, some days I feel like wetting my spiritual pants from because to incredibly worried. I slack off more months at a time, and make strides in a matter of days. I forget why it's worth waiting. 

But I also can't sit around, expecting things to magically come together, or that I can just let the day come and go with doing anything to prepare for it. I have to get myself ready, to present myself as a bride before her groom. Just like the Christian who can't expect to be ready for the Return if I'm sitting on the couch my whole life.

When Christ returns, and He weds himself to His Bride the Church, I will remember how it's all worth it. I will forget how long I waited, and how painful it was to get there; I will only see Christ and how He lead me to him. While Mike is certainly not Christ, I'm positive that once we're married I'll quickly forget all the pains of the engagement, and I'll be consumed with our new life. 

3. The Bridegroom

Speaking of Mike, HELLO? Groom? The whole Bible is about a marriage (I mean, I named my blog "Awaiting the Bridegroom" WAY before I met Mike!), it all culminates in a wedding! In the Old Testament we see Yahweh wedding himself to his unfaithful Israel, and in the New Testament Jesus binds himself to the Church. Every Israelite was waiting for the Messiah. Every Christian out there, then and now, is waiting for His return! We're waiting for a wedding. The Groom promises his coming, and we as the Bride prepare ourselves for the best day of our lives.

4. All those promises 

When Mike proposed to me, he had written out a long letter to me stating his intentions and purposes for our marriage. He read them to me out loud. I'm SO thankful he wrote them down, because I would never remember all the claims he made for our life. He's promises to never leave me, stay faithful, love me, remind me of my worth, help me look more like Christ, etc. Not that he could ever fulfill or sustain those promises to me apart from Christ, but isn't that somewhat of a little picture of what God has done for us? He carefully planned everything, building the relationship, writing down his promises for us, acting out on them, protecting us, waiting for the right time, sealing it with a ring far more beautiful than any diamond; the blood of His Son. God's Word is there to remind us of what we're waiting for, what we're to become, what He has done for us, what He will do. He's so gentle and caring enough to articulate it all for us to understand, so we won't forget and stray. While Mike's promises are fallible, Christ's are good, and kept, and fulfilled. 

So if you're a bride, or soon to be, or dream to be, take heart. The pain is not for nothing. The joy will lead to greater joy. The waiting doesn't go unfulfilled. The picture is so much bigger than your little day. Find freedom in that smallness.

In Christ.