the bridal moment

i was four when i was made part of the only wedding i've ever been in except for my own. Polly was a tallish young woman whose family was close to my parents. She had a blond page boy and a sweet disposition. She was marrying a guy named Jim who was funny and played with me in odd moments instead of ignoring me as most adults were wont to do. the story from that wedding which endured related to the little flower girl--me--about to be dressed in yellow chiffon (quite likely the only time in my life)...who yelled out the car window at Jim, "SUCKER!!" upon leaving the rehearsal.
I've heard the story often and actually remember it vividly. Jim framed in the door of his tomorrow-they're-my-in-laws' house, and i having picked up this great word from tom and jerry cartoons, yowling it with all the gusto i had, just the way jerry did at big old Tom.
But for all the times i've heard the story, for all the times this couple has intersected with my own life, this past Sunday provided a new experience for Polly the lovely bride. She passed into heaven, into the next bridal chamber, if you will--and Jim says she slipped away with a smile on her wan face.
She hadn't eaten for days but had lingered quietly in her bed, Jim holding her hand at night. It's a love that over the years was impressive to all around them--sometimes i've wondered if my childish shout made Jim all the more determined to prove that he indeed was not a sucker. And he proved it well, over and over. He and Polly were inseparable, good friends, beloved of each other--a rare and lovely thing to see in this world. They were truly the devoted lovers that exemplify Christ and His church.
Now Polly is whole and healed. Her beloved Jim must wait until it's his turn to be called away to the bridal chamber, to that place where Love is all, everything is now and nothing is lost. They will no doubt work side-by-side again, part of a greater flow of love than even they experienced here in the humdrum of humanity's earth.
The Bridegroom waits with anticipation. The future is enormous. It's just our limited vision that make the losses so huge and the gains seem small. So we will soon celebrate with Jim and his family the joyful homegoing of lovely Polly, anticipating the day when each of us who are Christ's will step across that divide and discover to our amazement and joy, that He is there and that suddenly, nothing else we thought was important ever matters again. He waits. We wait. But the wait makes the union with Him and the reunion with all the other loves we've known, all the sweeter.