Last night while I skimmed over my Facebook updates, there was a little note about one of my nephews being tagged in a photo album called ‘our wedding’. For an instant, my brain jumped to ‘He got married?!’, especially since this particular nephew is notorious for being less than forthcoming with the details of his life. Of course, it wasn’t him… just a friend. Whew! But it made me think back to when his older brother got married. Alan was just shy of his 5th birthday, and the wedding reception was the biggest, best party he had ever been to. He loved the music, and danced with complete abandon. Five year old boys do just about everything with complete abandon. Of course it’s all on video, and you can hear Alan say, “Watch me, Dad!” I love that. He didn’t care what anyone around him was doing. He didn’t care if he was doing all the ‘right’ steps. His dad was there watching, and that was all that mattered.
I’ve been thinking about worship these last few days, and Alan taught me a lesson that evening that I still need to grasp completely. God wants me to enjoy His presence with that same joyful abandon. Just like Jon brought us to the wedding reception for the purpose of celebrating, God will bring me aside with Him to celebrate. (Isn’t that what worship is? Not all formal, stiff and lifeless.) I’m usually much more like the other Wiseman men at the reception, off to the side, hands in my pockets, missing the opportunity. I’m way too self-conscious, way too concerned with how things might look to everyone else. But if my Dad is watching and smiling, what else really matters?
The wedding reception only lasted a few hours, and in the same way, eventually I have to get back to the work that God gave me. There’s a day coming, though, when the wedding reception never ends, and I’ll be there, not just with my Dad, but with the Bridegroom Himself.