Walking down a lifelong aisle

Wedding day is important for most women’s hearts; it is a special moment which captures our hopes and dreams. I had two weddings, one in Latvia with a church ceremony and another in China with a party for relatives. Upon arrival in China about one week after the wedding in Latvia, it was pretty hectic for us. There were some people accompanying me to take care of and also wedding arrangements to settle on spot. We also caught cold. From the first part of the wedding day in China, I have memories to cherish, but towards the end of the day things were getting very difficult. While I believe everyone did the best to their ability and understanding of the situation, there were some unexpected clashes in how the event unfolded and reactions and expectation difficult to match. It was something that took time to get over.

Some days after this wedding, I had a dream. In the dream, I was being prepared for a wedding again. I was in a room with several female assistants helping me to get ready. There was a heavenly feel to the whole situation. I had a spectacular dress which was pink, my hair was longer than I could ever grow it on this earth, and there were strands of pearls in my hair as decorations. Then the dream was over and I still wondered about the meaning, but it left me with a very good feel, as if there is still something else in store for me. I was reviewing the wedding catalogs which were in our room still and cherished the feeling experienced during the dream.

Over the time, I have started to see my journey as a walk down a lifelong aisle during which my tender, gracious and loving heavenly Father is leading me by hand towards Jesus who is waiting me at the end of the aisle. At the beginning, there was only an unclear, but bright figure somewhere far and I started to walk in that direction, but farther on the way, I start to see Him more clearly, I can already see His face and that He is smiling. All else is on the sidelines – the spectators, noises, disturbances; I may get distracted and stumble or even fall, but I try to get back on the track, focus my eyes on Him and continue to walk towards Him. Along the way, physically things will gradually go downhill for me, but I am getting more and more beautiful on the inside day by day and getting more excited as I am getting closer and closer to Jesus.

The metaphor of believers as a bride and Jesus as a bridegroom is found in the Bible in several places (Matthew 25, 1-13 and Ephesians 5, 25-27 for instance). We do not need to take it literally, because “at the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22,30). However, the wedding metaphor reveals something about happy expectation of finally meeting face to face the One who died for me to save me from my sin and who carried me through this life. Pretty recently in my time with Jesus, I don’t know why but I asked a silly question: “What color will my hair be in heaven? Because it is naturally dark brown, but right now I have it dyed lighter.” He gladly answered that by saying: “You will shine so brightly that it will not be possible to tell. It will be in all colors of the rainbow.” Through the evidence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, after accepting Jesus and continuing to follow Him we can have this certainty that we are the partakers of His glory at the end of our journey on earth.