At church yesterday, Tim spoke about the great commandment and the great commission. In order for us to really understand the great commandment, he gave us an historical account of a Hebrew engagement.
First, the man would travel to the woman's father, present him with a covenant of his intentions (how he would provide for her, etc) and then they would agree on a payment. If they both found this agreement acceptable, they would drink a glass of wine to "seal the deal". Then, the bridegroom would return to his Father's house for an unknown amount of time to prepare a home for her.
The bride's job was to prepare herself... to purify herself, to do beauty treatments, to make sure she was ready for him when he returned for her... because she had no indication of when he would return to get her. 1 month? 3 months? 2 years? But when he did, she had to be ready. And she knew he would follow through... she knew he would return for her. He made a covenant with her Father.
There are certain holes in this analogy, but I think Charlie and my engagement is very Hebrew. He came to my father, presented his intentions, payed him in crawfish and oranges :), and then returned to his Father's house to prepare a place for us. He's worked hard at preparing our place. Worked on the lot himself, had the city put in our culvert, made us a lovely driveway, and shopped for the house we will make a home. He has plans for landscaping our lot. And I am here in Arkansas, feeling like I have no clue when he will return, but knowing I must be ready for the best, most life-changing, hardest decision I will ever make--to marry my love. I want to be ready for this change, and I want to be beautiful for him (although, you won't find me doing facials and whateverelse they used to do in the Old Testament...)
This picture was especially powerful to me because I am living it. Obviously this picture is of the greater Bridegroom and his Bride, the church.
We don't know when he will return... but we know he is committed to us... he is preparing a home for us (the BEST home). But we must be ready... we must act as the body and invite others into this life-changing engagement.
Anyway, I wanted to share that and share a picture of my two favorite men :)
I never knew you were so old fashioned. Going back to BC. Haha. It really does look like Charlie is doing a great job with preparing your house for you. And you'll be beautiful when he returns thanks to teaching swimming lessons (what better skin treatment than sun and chlorine- haha).
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