"On the most special day of her life, the doors will open and she will walk down that aisle, all eyes will be on her. BUT, her eyes will only be on you..."
...and then it goes on to describe the need for you, the future groom, to look your best for her and how you can do that without spending a fortune if you visit their store, etc.
Of course I tuned out about then and never did catch the name of the tuxedo store. I was too busy remembering my own walk down the aisle, the swish of my dress, worrying about dropping the bouquet (no one ever told me it would be so darn heavy!), trying to make sure my niece didn't step on my dress and trip me (my 4 year old niece and 2 year old nephew escorted my down the aisle with my father, it was too precious!!) all while keeping my eyes locked on my groom.
The narrator had that part dead to rights. All that planning and angst and stress, and the hours of deciding, un-deciding, re-deciding and changing your mind just to make that day perfect, and the only thing that the bride ends up seeing, that whole day, is her groom. Sigh, it makes me want to do it all over again.
Of course in the middle of of my pleasant reminiscing, I am struck with an epiphany. The clouds in the sky part, a ray of sunlight strikes the steering wheel and somewhere behind my left shoulder a snippet of the Hallelujah Chorus plays:
We are the bride and Christ is the groom.
It is like the light bulb has been screwed in, but no power was flowing and someone finally flips the switch. I am almost ashamed to admit that it took a tuxedo store radio commercial to get that one through my thick skull. Yes, I get the whole the-church-is-married-to-Christ-protection-he-is-the-head-of-us bit. What I just realized is that all eyes, the world's eyes, are on us, the church, as Christ's bride, and like the narrator said, our eyes are supposed to be focused on our groom, Christ, not the world.
Can you imagine walking down the aisle and focusing on the people sitting in the pews? You would be so caught up in who actually made it and who came that didn't RSVP and oh look Aunt Kay is wearing that ridiculous "Sunday" hat of hers, you'd never make it to the alter, at least not before your bouquet tipped you over or you tripped because you weren't paying attention to the ridiculously slick aisle runner.
There is a reason a bride's eyes are only on the groom and not the decorations or the people. As she is walking down that long aisle she is completely focused on one goal, her future. It all lies neatly tuxedo-ed in the man waiting for her at the end. Her heart and her mind are completely in sync, overflowing with love, joy, anticipation, excitement, hope and she is looking at her groom, searching his face to see her future reflected there.
As the bride of Christ, are your eyes still focused on him? Are you still filled with that sweet anticipation and fiery excitement? Does hope for your future with him overflow in your mind and heart? Do you live every day as if you were walking down that aisle to meet your beloved?
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