Last week, I was privileged to be a part of the first group to perform a simulation for the class. The topic that we chose was in regards to marriage and how it was carried out during the times of Jacob and Rachel. I found it quite interesting to be able to undertake the study of this particular subject. As I learned about the woman’s role in the process -how her father bartered goods with her perspective father-in-law so that she might be able to marry his son. I pondered upon what it must have been like for a bride to have met her future husband until the day of their wedding. I wondered what it must have been like to have left the family that you grew up in, possibly never to see them again. I can only imagine what the bride must have been feeling through all of this –excitement for the new adventure that marriage would bring, importance because of the knowledge that she would be assisting in the securing of her family’s future through marriage, and sadness as she faced the prospect of never seeing her family again. Though I tend to shy away from trying to understand her through my 21st century eyes, surely some of these thoughts and feelings must be universal and timeless. It is in those universal and timeless thoughts and feelings where I have begun to gain insight into the bride’s perspective of so long ago. And what’s more, I have begun to relate (hopefully) understand the ancient Biblical bride, as I realize that we have more in common than I thought!