i absolutely love the way that my husband proposed to me. i will spare you the details, but i know i will never forget that night and the exact words he spoke when he asked me to marry him. and like most women, i love to tell the story over and over again to anyone who will listen. and i love hearing the stories of other people's proposals.
part of what made it so special was that it was a surprise. it was something he had been working on behind the scenes. we had talked about getting married, and i knew he was "the one," but i didn't know when he was going to ask me "officially." besides, he had to get past my dad first.
but i was thinking the other day about how different it would have been if he had dictated to me beforehand each detail of the proposal. i mean, believe me, i had begged him to tell me when and where and how, but his lips were sealed. but what if he had indulged me and told me everything, before it happened? first of all, it would have ruined the surprise! i would not be telling the story for years to come about how awesome he was and how much love and effort he showed in preparing. i would be telling everyone how disappointed i was that he was so unromantic. and secondly, i probably would have ruined it by putting in my two cents about how i thought it should go, and how i'd always dreamed it would be. thankfully, he was a wise suitor and did surprise me, because his plan was so much more perfect and beautiful than anything i could have dreamed up anyways.
maybe this is how it is with God too. He loves to love us. and not just a big dumb jock kind of love, but a passionate, romantic, holy kind of love. and maybe that's why he can't always dictate to us how every detail will work beforehand. part of the beauty of this life is the surprise at how He works things out for our good, and to His glory. He will never lie to us, but sometimes He does withhold information. but the mystery is part of what makes it so beautiful. not only that, but if He told us everything, we would want to add our two cents as to how we think it should go. (we do that anyways.) but what He has planned for us is so much better than we could ever dream for ourselves.
so maybe we should just enjoy the ride, let ourselves be surprised, and then live to tell the story!
