Just a few items to pick up at the store. Plant fertilizer for my outdoor growing greenery and flowers. A new filter for the coffee maker to replace the one with a rip.
Of course I bought more than those two items. Girl guide cookies greeted me on a shelf facing the entrance (and how can one not support the Girl Guides? … the ‘guys’ in the house would be so thrilled). Descaler for the coffee machines (yes, that’s plural, two of them, in use every morning … that is a subject for another post). Then I noticed that Nairn’s Ginger cookies (biscuits) were on sale and, well I had to buy them in honor of my Scottish Nan (and the fact that I love all of their products).
So, in for two items, out with a bag full. If I could only go into a store, pick up what I want and go home! But no, I have to check out every aisle, as though I am some sort of Proverbs 31 woman … “She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar” (v. 14) … from the beauty counter to the electronics department, from the shelves of sweeties to the coffee machine paraphernalia.
Though the clock just turned half past seven, the sun was still high in the sky, beckoning me to pause my mental to do list. My body felt more worn that the time, so a mini drive chosen … and I knew exactly where to go.
Just a short walk from my home, this spot is perfect for viewing Mt. Baker. This giant of the Pacific Northwest is known as “the Bride of the Pacific” for it is always cloaked in white (snow) year round. Though it is roughly 100 kms. from this spot, it is perfectly visible.
Mt. Baker is always there, yet it never looks the same way twice. The weather conditions, sunlight, snow pack, cloud cover all change the daily appearance of that mountain, yet it is always there. It is always covered in white snow, this Bride of the Pacific.
Makes me think of ourselves, who, as the church are frequently called Bride of Christ (who is the Bridegroom).
Like me, heading into the store for an item or two, I got distracted from what was my purpose. I spent my time focused on things I never intended to spend my money on. As the Bride or church, we too have gotten distracted from our purpose. We have spent time on things God never intended for His church. We have wasted our resources on things that, as stewards of His good gifts, we should not.
As the church, we have frequently blown it, forgotten our purpose, our first love. We are scarred by our corporate sin.
Yet, as the Bride of Christ, through the eyes of Him, our hard surfaces are covered over by his sacrifice, by his love. It is as if we are permanently cloaked in white, like the Bride of the Pacific.
In this, there is still hope for us, as His bride.
“ … just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” Ephesians 5:25-27.
itsawonderfilledlife 