I AM SIMPLY CLAIMING WHAT I AM ENTITLED TO:
Prophecy: Your hand in marriage. I have my title deed, Your promise to me, given many years ago now. It wasn’t as if I was hesitant to accept, but only very slow to believe and act on Your promise. My story is of the beggar bride. You rescued me off the street and took me back home with you. Then began a long and patient process of cleaning, polishing and preparation. It was an arduous procedure, and many times I was so reluctant. I acted hurt at times and even resentful at how You brushed and scrubbed. I look back at those days with embarrassment at my behavior. It is no wonder I was on the street with no one to love me. I truly was a vagabond; an ungrateful, spoiled tramp. Yes, spoiled by pride and self –a very thick covering that blinded me from myself. I couldn’t even recognize my image when You first brought that full-length mirror into the chamber where you’d lavishly lodged me. The image I first saw was the one I preferred; I had kept it with me even throughout my days of preparation. There was times, however, when I’d come to the mirror and take a look at self but quickly look away —because I caught a glimpse of someone that I didn’t particularly like. At first I hadn’t noticed You in the shadows behind me, but as my days of preparation continued, each time I came to the mirror You moved further into the light, very slowly, mind you, until one day there You were in full delightful sight. I remember my heart took a skip, but then you drew back into the shadows, and there you stayed for quite a while. It wasn’t that You didn’t wish with all Your heart to rush to my side, but it was I who was not ready to rush to Yours. Alas, I was too consumed with self to realize why You’d withdrawn. (Now don’t misunderstand me; it wasn’t that He was repelled, but as He saw a deeper image of what I was to become, He pulled back to wait until all was done. You see, I wasn’t the beggar that comes to mind when one thinks of a homeless person. I was a beggar of different cut. When looking into the mirror I would see a well-presented outward twin, but it was the one that lived within that caused the deferment.)
Yet, even now I wonder how You could love one such as I. Even so I’ve come to learn that there is a triplet buried far below the other two, and that is what all the burnishing and polishing is about. Come out I say, I’ve heard of you and you are delaying the day with all that procrastinating. Back to the bathtub for you; there’s a little more scrubbing to do. Only recently I noticed hanging on the bathroom door, which out of interest is painted in the most beautiful blue, is a Key called humility. I’ve come to learn its secret lies in transparency and that is what the scrubbing and buffing is all about.
Lately though, I’ve become a little concerned …because I received His written invitation to marriage, and at the bottom of His sweet, endearing promise of eternal love and devotion there was a date, not the day but only the year, when He would come to take me away. I’m as I said, concerned. I should be elated, but I’m just finding it difficult to believe that He’s going to be able to keep His Word. You see; I can still see far too much of me. He’s never once been unfaithful. There were times that I misunderstood His intentions, or the wording of His love notes caused me to think something that wasn’t what was really being said. Now, however, I am beginning to be of a different mind. Although hesitation still lingers, I’ve been meditating on a recent love note that newly caught my eye. Whilst looking deeper, I understood that He waits in expectation for Me to claim my prize. It has become apparent that I’ve been considering His loving promises, not so much as said and done, but ifs and buts that I couldn’t possibly afford. Now as the big day approaches, I find myself a little behind the ball. The ball itself is running straight and true, but my part is to stay with it, not so much to kick it through the goal but to cross the line and to finish the race.
The way you will conquer and triumph victorious as you overcome the world is through allowing Me to possess you. (ML 3376:20)