Sherry just alerted me to the fact that there’s a cardinal in the back yard. I went to look. I watched for a few moments. He was interesting. Then the thought that came to mind was this: “Old people watch birds in the back yard. Your are watching a bird. Therefore….”

What an odd thought.

Is it a bad thing? Watching birds and the like, I mean.

Yes, if that’s all we do. We are participants in life, not spectators.

But no, if it means we actually slow down enough to see things we were too busy to see before.

Old people lose their vision and wear glasses. But they also see things that others don’t.

Not that I’m old. I’m just thinking about it.

My daughter looked radiant in her wedding gown.

Her heart was beating furiously. So nervous. So full of joyful anticipation. So anxious about the unknown.

My heart matched hers, as we stood arm-in-arm in the foyer of the church, staring at the double doors that would open in just 5 seconds… How did 25 years pass so quickly?

4 seconds… I remembered her in pink footy pajamas.

3 seconds… I remembered her at camp.

2 seconds… I remembered our date nights.

1 seconds… I remembered her moving out and getting her first job.

0… Now! The doors swung open, and every eye in the church turned toward us. The bride stepped forward, “entering God’s gate with thanksgiving, His courts with praise.” In just a few moments, I presented her to her groom, with whom she will spend the rest of her life.

Even then, it reminded me that each believer in Christ is standing right where my daughter and I stood last week. We are in the foyer of this life, walking arm in arm with God. At any moment, He may cause the doors to swing open that lead us into the perfect heavenly presence of Christ – who is our bridegroom.

I wonder, does my heart beat as furiously for that heavenly moment as it did in the foyer last week? Am I as full of joyful anticipation for the moment when God will usher me from this life into the life that weds us?

Am I remembering that the moment will be just as real (perhaps even moreso) as the rush my daughter and I felt when those doors were flung open for her?

The bridegroom awaits more eagerly than I can imagine. But may my imaginings and longing be more befitting of a bride whose bridegroom stands but one door away.

“Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” Revelation 21:9