Hi, everyone! My goodness, I don’t even want to peek at my last post to check its Cenozoic date; it’s been eons in blogosphere time! Much has transpired in the life of this “writer of fitness, faith, and some frivolity” – as my Twitter profile, states – including moving to a new city and gettin’ hitched! Do please forgive the major life transition! 😉
If you’re a semi-regular reader of this blog, you may know that I rather enjoy peeling away the top layer of “normal,” “everyday” experiences and seeing if there isn’t a spiritual picture or biblical truth hovering beneath its seemingly stagnant surface. For example, with working out, I’ve (along with other faithfully fit Christian brothers and sisters) drawn a parallel between the soreness and temporary muscle break-down that follows resistance training in the gym and the short-term spiritual, emotional, and often physical fatigue and pain that accompanies the resistance and trials befalling each one of us engaged on this battlefield called Life (thank God the war has been won, right!?).
My recent honeymoon, along with being the sweetest (in the classical and current, colloquial sense of the word) week of my life, was also a God-sent gift, which, when unwrapped, opened my eyes to a full-blown vision of the ultimate celebration that’s been planned since the beginning…
In a blog-sized nutshell, the celebration is in fact the consummate Feast of the Ages! This beatific banquet is mentioned and alluded to throughout the New Testament, even by Jesus, our Bridegroom, Himself (Matthew 22:2, 25:1-13). John’s Revelation of Jesus’ triumphant second coming thrills me and fills my imagination with wonders of that day…
“The Master reigns,
our God, the Sovereign-Strong!
Let us celebrate, let us rejoice,
let us give him the glory!
The Marriage of the Lamb has come;
his Wife has made herself ready.
She was given a bridal gown
of bright and shining linen.
The linen is the righteousness of the saints.
9The Angel said to me, ‘Write this: “Blessed are those invited to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.:”’ He added, ‘These are the true words of God!’” –Revelation 19:6-9 (MSG)
That, my friends, will be a honeymoon! I think we’ll have to find a name more suitable for the occasion, in fact…like Maple Syrup Supernova, or Chocolate Fondue Planet.
Moving on…
My husband Ben and I wed on the beautiful West Indies island of Saint Lucia in front of the nation’s spectacular landmark, the two Piton mountains. As Ben and I immediately remarked upon arriving, pictures we’d seen online and in friends’ facebook albums simply could not do justice to the natural radiance and breathtaking beauty of this Edenic place. I can’t help but believe that’s how our heavenly honeymoon will be; what we read in Scripture, what we hear in the pulpit, what we see in our thoughts and feel fluttering in our hearts cannot begin to prepare our senses for the magnificence of standing in the presence of the saints and our Savior as we celebrate the “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21).
Husbands and wives are called to be a living picture (see this post for more) of Christ’s relationship with His bride, the Church. In my mind, it only follows that every biblical marital tradition – such as the heretofore separated groom coming to carry away his betrothed bride at an unknown hour, then taking her away after the wedding for a seven-day honeymoon – has a bigger, better reality we can all look forward to (and upwards for, for that matter!) (Matt. 25:13), one that transcends the singing, dancing, eating and drinking we typically associate with weddings. This will mark the “fullness of times” when all things in Christ will be gathered together (Ephesians 1:10).
American weddings, on average, cost $29,000 according to The Wedding Report. Couples and their families often spend up to two years planning one night! Compare that with The Ultimate Wedding just around the cloudy corner (Mark 14:62); it cost God His only Son and Has been planned since the dawn of creation (John 3:16, Isaiah 46:10, John 1:2). It will be the party, not of all-time, but of all time in eternity past and future. I hope and pray to see you there!
Stay fit, stay faithful, stay vigilant! ~<3 Di
“These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us.” -2 Corinthians 4:17 (MSG) 