Reason #772

Sometimes I look and Aaron and I am amazed that he’s my husband. I realize that sounds like inspiration for a cheesy love song, but it’s true. Sometimes, I sit next to him and I feel like a high school girl, giddy and grateful that he has chosen me. It’s like I won the husband lottery. Anyway, there’s a lot about Aaron that still blows me away and when I step back and think about it, I am overwhelmed by the fact that I’m his bride.

 

You always want the best for the people you love, and I realize that so often I am far from the best. I’m not the best looking, the best cook, the best forgiver, the best house keeper, the best gardener, the best domestic goddess, and sometimes I’m not the best wife. Like I’ve told you a million times, I would have picked out a totally different girl for Aaron to marry. His parents probably had something else in mind, too. But, he chose me. A girl who was broken and imperfect, scarred, and rejected. That’s who he wanted for his own. I know, it doesn’t add up.

 

In my eyes, Aaron and I were not “equal.” Equal would have meant that he chose a girl who was spotless and perfect. A girl who had never been married before. A girl whose past looked identical to his own, which is hard to find. A girl who could wear a white dress in all truth, although that’s another discussion. A girl who didn’t have a past or baggage to deal with. But Aaron, my groom, chose a girl who was nothing like him in many regards, and he isn’t the first groom to do that.

 

I see my marriage reflect Christ’s relationship with the church in such a tangible way. A pair that I wouldn’t have initially put together either. Christ chose the church to be his bride. Are you kidding me? He could have done so much better, couldn’t he? A bunch of stained sinners is who he wanted to attach himself to. That’s who he wanted to be associated with and he wasn’t ashamed about it, either. Seems like it kind of violates the “unequally yoked” advice He gave. But I think when He said that, it went deeper than attaching yourself to someone who appeared to be just like you. Maybe, what that meant was attaching yourself to someone who willingly wanted to go in the same direction as you. Someone who was going to faithfully walk beside you, bearing the weight with you, and helping you stay on course. And isn’t that what Christ does for the church? We aren’t his bride because we deserve to be or because we’re the perfect match, rather, we’re His bride because He has come along side us, out of love, to guide us forward into truth and freedom. He chose us not because we looked anything like Him, He chose us because God’s grace is big enough to cover any and every part of our past and to wipe it spotless and clean so that we can be unified as one.

 

Well, Aaron is a fabulous husband. You all know this, as I’ve written about Him so many times. And I am so grateful that Aaron took the time to get to know me, rather than writing me off because I wasn’t like him. I am so grateful that he took a chance to see where my heart was, and that that alone was the convincing reason as to why he asked me to marry him. Because there is no one else I’d rather be yoked with. There is no one else I’d rather bear the weight of the world with. And there is no one else I’d rather walk through life beside than him. Yet more than that, I am thankful that Christ has done the same for the church, His bride. That He chose her not because she was perfect and spotless and just like him, but because God’s grace wiped away her every sin so she could be yoked to Him and walk out the rest of eternity by His side.

 

#772 - Because we're yoked to Him.

 

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:29-30