The Wedding Gown

It was such a touching story the bride shared with me.

“Your gown is gorgeous”, I said to her as I touched the lace along the side. “I don't believe I have ever seen one this elegant .”

“Well, there is a story behind it,” the bride replied. “I have been dreaming of my wedding day since I was a very little girl. I kept all of my ideas in a box thinking someday Prince Charming would come along and sweep me off my feet and I’d have everything all planned. By the time I was 21, I had found pictures of everything I loved and they were all neatly stacked in my “Wedding Box”; everything that is except my wedding gown. I knew exactly what it must look like but I hadn’t been able to find a picture. One day, one of my good friends and I were window shopping during our lunch break. There in the window was THE gown; THE perfect gown!  I couldn’t believe it!  It looked exactly like what I had seen in my dreams. I didn’t have time then to go in the shop but vowed I’d come back after work and look at it again. So, after work that day, I rushed to the shop, opened the door and stepped inside. The dress was still in the window and I reached over and touched the lace much like you touched it just now.

“May I help you?” asked the sales lady. “I see you are eying that lovely gown we have in the window.”

“Yes,” I said, “It’s the gown I have been dreaming of for many, many years.

“When is your wedding?” She asked.

“Oh, it’s a long way off….. I haven’t found my Prince Charming yet.” I laughed.

“Well, a girl can still dream, can’t she? Would you like to try it on?

“Oh, I don’t want you to remove it from the window when I’m sure I won’t be buying it.” I said.

“Not a problem…….I planned to change the display anyway.”

So, off came the dress and into the dressing room we went.  And, you know the dress fit me perfectly. I know that sounds crazy but I bought this dress and I wasn’t even dating anyone at the time so marriage was certainly not in my near future.  I took the dress home and hung it in my closet. Every so often, I would unzip the bag just to feel the satin and touch this beautiful lace.  That was twenty years ago and now that Prince Charming is waiting for me at the chapel, I’m going to wear the dress of my dreams.

By then, I was almost in tears.

“What a beautiful story” I said, “and, you are a beautiful bride.”

The wedding was beautiful; the bride was radiant in her two decades old dress and the groom’s smile as she walked down the aisle of the chapel, said it all.

A few months later, I was talking to the lady at the chapel.

“Did you hear from  (and she gave the couple’s name)?”

“Not since we sent their proof book to them, why?”

“Well, she called me about a week ago and told me that her husband had passed away suddenly from a heart attack.”

“Oh, no!”  And I remembered the story the bride had shared with me that day and my heart broke for her.  That beautiful gown had hung in her closet for twenty years and she had finally found her Prince Charming and now he was gone. What a sad, sad story…………

Now suddenly this couple’s life together; the dreams they had for their future, was gone………gone in the single beat of a heart. Yet, none of us are assured of that next beat. 

God has not promised us a long, happy life here on this earth. What He has promised is eternal life in Heaven if we confess that we are sinners and ask Him to come into our hearts and save us from our sins and make Him Lord of our life . God may return before we pass from life unto death.  But, He may also take us from this life when He chooses.

“But no one knows the date and hour when the end will be—not even the angels. No, nor even God’s Son. Only the Father knows.” Matthew 24:36 TLB