And They Said, "I Do"

He stood on our little deck in our side yard awaiting the arrival of his bride. I sat on the front row surrounded by family and a few friends, taking in his face. I’ve caught the look on many a groom’s face at the appearance of his bride before she processes down the aisle toward him, and it delights me each time. But on May 9th, it was my oldest son, not somebody else's son. I couldn’t wait to see the impact his beloved Kaylee would have on him that day. 

My dad, who was seated behind me, asked me to turn my face toward him so he could capture my profile for a picture. Normally, I’d twist in the blink of an eye to capture the moment in a pose. But, this was a rare moment. I replied holding my gaze, “I’m not taking my eyes off my son.” And there I sat awaiting the bride, his gaze locked toward the gate at which she’d appear, and my gaze locked on him. 

Kaylee’s processional song began to play and Keegan’s face grew expectant. Our gate swung open and there she was in all of her bride-like glory. And she took my son’s breath away—literally. And then his smiling eyes filled with tears at the sight of her. My driven, focused son who’s joked since he was a teenager that his heart is in his leg, came undone inside, which spilled over to his outside. His heart seemed to burst through his body. Delight. Awe. Wonder. Affection. Love. Gratitude. I saw it all on his handsome face. 

And then my heart burst within me, the fullness of gratitude that our God has been so over-the-top lavish to bring Keegan and Kaylee into each other’s lives. Wonder that God has brought a woman into my son’s heart who can break him open, soften his driven edges, bring joy to his entire being like no other, and stir him to live out of his whole, big heart. 

After a few moments, I turned toward the bride. Kaylee looked like a princess as she slowly walked toward her groom, arm-in-arm with her dad. Her face was aglow with a smile from ear-to-ear. The one I thought might tear could only smile out her joy as she made her way down the 15-foot path toward her beloved. 

Keegan moved in and out of tears throughout the ceremony, choking up as he spoke his personal vows into Kaylee. They washed each other’s feet, they exchanged rings, and they sealed the ceremony with a kiss of kisses. 

As we enjoyed dinner across from each other that night, I asked him, “What were you thinking or feeling when Kaylee appeared through the gate?”

He said, “I’ve been to many weddings and watched the groom when his bride appears, and it’s always somebody else’s bride. When Kaylee appeared, it hit me, ‘She’s my bride!’” 

As I pondered his response throughout the night and following day, I think that Keegan’s face mirrored Jesus’s over-the-top delight in His bride—the Church. His Church is His beloved and He holds nothing but affection for her. In His death, He became our sin—putting to death all of the relational costs of sin. When we walk into His kingdom, He clothes us in His splendor and righteousness so the Father’s and Son’s faces toward us are a display of pure delight all of the time. His Word says His love for us spills over into smiles and tears and joy—he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Not just any old singing, but loud singing.

Not sometimes. Always.

I have apprenticed myself to Jesus for 27 years, and my vision of God’s face toward me shifted as a result of Keegan’s reaction to his bride. At the close of Job’s long and treacherous journey of loss and suffering, he responds to God, “My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.” That has always given me vision for this life with God. Yet on May 9th, it wasn’t through suffering that I caught a clearer vision of God’s radiant delight in His bride and in me, but my son’s face as he took in his bride.

Pay attention to beholding God’s face toward you this week. What do you see? Look for His sheer delight in you.