Can you hear the bride?

There is something in the statement that has recently caught my attention.  In a world where everyone seems to be focusing on the “big picture”, how often to we still the noise around to listen what is really being spoken from the one that is trying to speak?

When a bride comes into the room, everyone stands.  Everyone pulls their attention away from what they are doing to watch her. I will be honest and say that I personally look at the groom’s face first because it makes me think of what Jesus is going to look like when HIS BRIDE is coming toward Him. But then I look at the Bride. I watch her face as she moves through the crowd toward her beloved, her dream, her song from heaven - her relationship.  

She is not moving forward to someone else’s dream or heartbeat.  She has picked the song, her song.  She has designed the room, her room.  She has dreamt of this moment for so long, that every detail is carried deep in her heart.  It’s not a formula for her, it is a relationship at it’s most authentic and intimate level, and we who stand and watch are being given the delight and privilege to bear witness to that moment and that song.  For the rest of her life, this is the song she will remember.  This is the story she will share with her children and their children when they ask.  

Now imagine that you are the beloved and it’s your wedding day that is coming.  Someone comes to you and says, “Well that song is ok, but I think that you should walk this way and we should change the song just so slightly this way...”  They have the best intentions, but are not able to really hear what you are saying because they haven’t stepped into your vision.  They are seeing from their dream and not yours.  Where does that leave your heart?  What does that do to your story?  And how, in love do you express yourself to them?  

Ephesians 4 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. 

1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.

14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

It is love that gives us the ability to speak and the ability to listen.  It is love that stops us in our tracks and draws our full attention back to the relationship between the bride and her beloved.  It is love that will stop the religious nature and formula of the church and the ways or man, bringing us back to a place of unity.

Without love we cannot be patient and listen to the song being sung by the bride.  Without love we cannot put our own expectations aside and let her have her day.  Without love and the truth that comes with it, we cannot grow into the unity and maturity that Ephesians speaks of.  

There is that one person who is carrying the vision, the dream, the picture from heaven, the song that will break open unity and break off religion. How will you help them with their song?  How will you equip them without trying to control them?  How will you add your own song to theirs in a way that brings unity, maturity and most of all love?

The bride in each of us is waiting to be heard.  She is ready to sing the song that has been growing in her heart.

And the Bridegroom is waiting to hear her.