You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed you forever. —Psalm 45:2, NIV,, emphasis mine
As the wedding approached, everybody was looking forward to the glorious date. Each family gifted them their most prized cattle and most beloved possessions for the newlyweds. They were assigned seats in accordance to family ties. And they all waited for the procession to start.
But there was one problem, something that even the family, friends, and guests, not even the bride, knew and expected: this marriage was the culmination of his own failures.
For some reason no one understands, he saw himself as ugly, broken, a freak that needed to marry in order to express his mistaken virility. His mind felt as if all of his successes in life was because of luck or chance and not because of his hard work. That his soon-to-be wife wants to marry him for his money. That his friends only want to spend time with him because of his money. That everybody doesn't care of his marriage and only wants to join the party because of his social status. His mind kept looking for creative ways to impose torture on himself since he deserved it. Something in his heart warned him of future failure that never existed.
As his procession walked in the aisle with their elegant gowns, he was battling with whatever strength he had in him. All the self-hatred in the world piled on him, crowing his head as a victim of his circumstances. Like a pinball, his eyes kept bouncing around the crowd, waiting for something that would bail him out his self-imposed misery. If anybody could save his soul!
But, lo and behold, there she was, walking around the procession in her precious white gown! She was gleaming, excited, waiting for his beloved on the other side of the procession. The crowd stood up and sat, and a tear rolled down her right cheek. Hew saw her, and smiled, waiting to touch her hands and kiss her lips. All the irrational self-condemnation in his life slipped away like a veil as he focused only on the hands of his soon-to-be wife.
And her name was Grace...