WHAT BEING A BRIDESMAID HAS TAUGHT ME ABOUT CHRISTIANITY

Will you be my bridesmaid?' is one of the sweetest questions a friend could possibly ask and I have answered with a resounding 'yes!' 4 times this year.

On one occassion, I was asked to be a bridesmaid to two different brides whose weddings fell on the same day and you can guess what my responce was 'oh no..!' Id rather be a guest'. I ended up attending the church wedding for one and the reception for the other.

I love weddings and being a bridesmaid is one of the things that makes it even more exciting as you get to gain the VIP status for the duration of the wedding festivities, you get to spend more time with the bride, get to have a valid reason to get fancy, you dont have to stress over what to wear to the wedding and many more benefits. Being a bridesmaid is wonderful. My excitement each time I’ve been asked was so great, it managed to overshadow what inevitably came next: figuring out how exactly to pay for it..lol. In the midst of all the excitment, celebrations, and jubulations that comes with being a bridesmaid, there are some activities that teaches us a little about christianity.

Here are some lessons I‘ve learned from being a bridesmaid.

Its not about you

No matter how good you look, the spot light remains on the bride and groom. Its okay to have a front row seat to their preparation, ceremony of commitment and life - dedicating vows, but irrespective of all the tasks done behind the scenes, the couple takes the day. Its all about their happiness and celebration not about you or what youve done. Same goes to us christians. What we do should point to God. Though we labour, he takes glory in the end. And when we serve him, we get front row seats to his miracles and wonders.

No task is insignificant

Being a bridesmaid for me has been more about accompanying the bride to tailors, dress fittings, bill paying, rather than being all dolled-up. On most occassions, tasks are being divided amongst the maids, with the most significant and bulk of it, assigned to the MOH and the rest, to the maids. I spent a lot of time addressing envelopes, tying ribbons, labelling souveniers and being a listening ear. Most of it were not glamorous and was quite boring but they were very significant nonetheless.

In life, we feel that the big assignments are being assigned to the bigger people, and as a reward, these assignments come with much visibility and recognition, where as, its the opposite with the small task. In God's eyes, no task is too small. It could be that he wants us to demonstrate our faithfulness with the little task before moving on to the bigger task.

Make yourself available

With my kind of personality, it is easy to get carried away in the excitment of the ceremony and picture taking, than in the actual preparation. Sometimes, I noticed my attention had to be called to the kitchen a few times, or to assist the bride in dressing up or to help run an errand which didn't seem right. As much as I really wanted to be tasked, I wasnt available enough.

Most times we desire to be used by God and pertake in his glory but we fail to make ourselves available to him when he needs us and then we miss out on our blessings. We need to be just as eager and joyful in our service to God, open-hearted and open-handed to take on what he would like us to do. He doesnt want to force us into walking with him, but delights in a cheerful heart.

Always stay prepared

Being a bridesmaid requires you to always stay prepared. It helped to have everything handy in the big box and be ready for any emergencies. Even though nothing big happend, and everything ran smoothly, we were all much more reasaured to have extras of everything.

Staying prepared is the definition of faith. There is no way you can recieve without stretching out your palms. As christians, we should always stay prepared as we never know what day nor hour our blessings might come or the groom himself.

Be a part of the body

Coordinating with other bridesmaids, especially in throwing bridal showers and bachelorette parties can be one of the bigest challenges with being a bridesmaid as you may not know some of the bridesmaids or even all. Plus,they all have different lives and different schedules. But it was really humbling for me to act as one of the group rather than act like a boss or do things my own way. I had a great time getting to know other sister bridesmaids and to celebrate with them on our friend's special day. And the most important was our Teamwork and cooperation which led to our bride thoroughly enjoying herself at the event.

We belong to the body of christ. No man is an island. We act as part of the body and we all need eachother especially in accomplishing great things. I am the head, he might be the hands and she, the lungs; none of us is more important but we all function together to make the body work.