Saturday, December 20th, 2003 - Spooning With God

An awesome friend of mine brought up a question that led to an edifying discussion and sharing time. She asked, "Do you see God more as a father or as a bridegroom?" - worded differently, "What worldly relationship do you equate with your relationship with God?" Many people in the room saw it largely in a certain way, and some saw a half-in-half split between more than one role. I answered that I see God a little bit like a father but largely as a best friend.

The consensus that we arrived at was that our past experiences shaped how we view our relationship with God today. People like me, who have never been in a relationship, are much less likely to see God as a bridegroom. We also came to agree that God takes on many roles and attributes; father, bridegroom, and best friend are all totally fulfilled by God, and this is doubtfully a complete list. The goal and challenge that we set before each other is to see God in all the different roles, especially those that we don't normally ascribe to Him.

For me, I had never really seen God as a bridegroom. I can remember countless verses that depict both the Father and Jesus as such; the most memorable are ones that partially define Christ as a "perfect bride." That has been ringing in my head and has been a recent employment of mine - to see God as a bride. I think this is naturally more difficult for guys because we so often portray God in our minds with masculine qualities since God chose to be a man while He took on flesh in Jesus Christ. Thus, I forget that God himself is non-gendered.

At first, it was difficult to view God in a "feminine light." But as I pondered this, I imagined myself dancing with God. And I don't mean the awkward bouncing up and down to fast songs at middle school dances, but rather when that slow song comes on and amidst shaking and sweaty palms, you go up to that girl who's been on your mind and choke out a stuttered request to have this dance. Well, maybe it's not like that for you, but just think of a slow dance. :)

I imagine dancing to Brian Adams' "Everything I Do, I Do It For You" with God as I look into Her eyes and see that sparkle that would normally make me all nervous and hope I don't fart or trip or something stupid. But this dance wasn't like that at all - there was no nervousness, no cares, no thoughts racing through my head. It was unlike anything I'd ever dreamed or thought, and I cannot put it into words here. I don't like thinking of going on dates, but if you do, think of going on a date with God. I like to think of going to a movie with God and doing that stretch-thing-where-you-put-your-arm-on-the-opposite-shoulder, whatever that's called.

This may weird some of you out, but I then pictured God and I spooning. Now, I know that I've been thinking of God as a female and many of you know that I'm definitely not an advocate of opposite-sex spooning, but this is different. This is not the typical, friendly, dorm room style of spooning. This was a romantic, marital, cuddle by the fire kind of spooning. And spooning with your spouse is totally cool! If God has plans for me to get married someday, I sure hope my future wife loves to spoon. I'm a big fan as long as it's done in the right context.

My eyes have been more opened to the great glory of God's hugeness. It is amazing to work towards seeing Him more than just the best friend ever but in many facets, attempting to more appropriately allocate God's array of roles to Him. I wouldn't have thought to consider God a "significant other," a girlfriend, a fiance, even a bride; God used some awesome friends in this discussion as a catalyst to this new line of thinking. His timing is no accident as it came right after I re-learned and saw in a new light quite a bit about love, and all of these things led to more thought which will be expressed in the next post. This happened a week ago, so I'm still trying to catch up to the present time, lol.

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