And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory
of the Lord, are being transformed into the same
image from one degree of glory to another. For
this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
- 2 Cor. 3:18
With Valentines Day coming this month, stores are well-stocked with cards, decorations and chocolate – LOTS of chocolate in various forms. I even noticed that one of my favorite “ladies”, Little Debbie, offers red-frosted heart brownies this time of year. It’s a beautiful thing.
But on a more serious note, I would like to share a short love story that I discovered years ago:
Henry M. Dyke became blind when he was ten. When he was in his early twenties and attending graduate school in England, he met the daughter of a British admiral, and they fell in love and decided to marry. But before he agreed to give his daughter’s hand in marriage, the admiral insisted that William submit to what was at that time a risky surgery to restore his sight. William agreed, but he also had a condition: He did not want the gauze removed from his eyes until the moment he met his bride at the altar. He wanted her face to be the first thing he beheld on their wedding day.
The surgery took place. The wedding day was set. William’s father led his son to the front of the church, and the bride’s father led her down the aisle. As she came, William’s father stood behind his son and unwound the gauze from his eyes. No one knew if the surgery had been successful. When William’s bride stood before him, the last strand of gauze was pulled away, and he was face-to-face with his bride. He stood there speechless, and everyone waited, breathless. And then he spoke: “You are more beautiful than I ever imagined.”
In his book, Things Unseen, author, Mark Buchanan writes of this: “One day that will happen to us, only the roles will be reversed. “Now we see but a poor reflection in a mirror,” Paul says; “then we shall see face-to-face. Now I know [Him] in part; then I shall know[Him] fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). One day, the Bride of Christ, near blind now, will stand before Her Bridegroom at the Wedding Feast, and the veil will be removed, the scales will fall away, and we will see Him face-to-face and know Him even as we are fully known.
And He will be more beautiful than we ever imagined.
