It has been a very exciting Christmas period in our church, with the birth of a baby on Christmas Eve and the announcement of an engagement on Christmas Day! I love hearing about proposals of marriage, though it was nerve-wracking to be ‘in’ on my son’s proposal, planned during a summer holiday to Ireland. I was entrusted with transporting the ring to Ireland so that his bride-to-be did not discover it en route and Garry was given the job of photographing the moment to capture her immediate, spontaneous reaction (something she herself wanted – she just didn’t know when it was coming!) I was never so relieved as when she said yes, having imagined a disastrous holiday if things did not work out the way we all wanted!
God is not only a God of prepositions: with us, for us, above us, in us and working through us. He is a God of propositions too, giving us suggestions and commands as to the best way to live and offering us His proposal to be His bride. He is a God of immense generosity who does not force His way into our lives, but woos and courts us more patiently than any human lover.
As we celebrate with those who are starting out on the journey towards marriage, let’s accept God’s proposal to us and receive His gift of salvation, wrapped in the form of Jesus whom we have been celebrating this Christmas and let’s obey Him, secure in the knowledge that His commands and suggestions are for our good, designed to lead us into fulness of life.