Sydney, the Bride

Thank You Lord for the life of Sydney Boone Gaylord. After a courageous battle with a brain tumor, Sydney went home to be with the Lord on August 28, 2011. My husband and I were blessed and privileged to attend her celebration service on Sept. 1st. On the face of it, this was an unthinkable tragedy--the loss of a wonderful 35 year old mother of 3 young children, the youngest of whom is just 2 years old. What an irreplaceable loss for her husband, her children, her parents, her brother, her in-laws and extended family and friends. And this is one we simply cannot fathom. We will surely not understand God's purposes in this until we get to heaven. But Sydney now knows and rejoices. We grieve; she dances. We see dimly and uncertainly; she sees fully and faithfully. We weep; she laughs. But we choose to trust that He who gave His only child out of infinite love for us, loves Sydney far more than any of us and has a good and perfect plan beyond our comprehension. So in our sorrow and darkness, we look to Him who dwells in glorious light... and even now, dances and rejoices with Sydney.

At her funeral, the minister pointed out that the Bible opens with a wedding--the "marriage" of Adam and Eve as Eve is created and made one flesh with Adam. Then in the middle of His Word, God recorded a marriage poem--the Song of Solomon. The very miracle ever performed by our Savior was at a wedding when Jesus turned the water into wine. And at the very end of the Bible, the book of Revelation describes the wedding feast of the Lamb. Paul explains this analogy in his epistles: we, as believers, are the bride and our Lord Jesus is the bridegroom. He is making us pure and ready as His perfect bride--and the wedding, well, it will be glorious! "Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, 'Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure'--for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, 'Write this: 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are the true words of God.'" Rev. 19:6-9

Sydney, who loved color and always wore bright colors (and wanted people to wear bright colors to the service--for she wanted it to be a celebration), wanted to be dressed in a white dress for her funeral. She wanted to be dressed all in white as a bride, ready for her beloved Bridegroom. And so while we wept, we also rejoiced that at last she was enjoying and loving and embracing her Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus. Surrounded by her dear family, as she breathed her last in the hospital room that August day, the minister put his hand on her and shared these words from Revelation. And then she passed from this world into the arms of Jesus, the loving, omniscient, powerful, glorious, gracious, mighty, gentle, joyful Bridegroom.

And so with Rev. 22:20, we rejoice that "He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" May we all be like Sydney, a radiant bride, dressed and ready for our Savior. To our glorious Bridegroom be all the glory.