Arise!

 

Monday, July 6, 2020

Song of Solomon 2:8-13

Ah, I hear my lover coming!  He is leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.  My lover is like a swift gazelle or a young stag.  Look, there he is behind the wall, looking through the window, peering into the room.  My lover said to me, “Rise up, my darling!  Come away with me, my fair one!  Look, the winter is past, and the rains are over and gone.  The flowers are springing up, the season of singing birds has come, and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.  The fig trees are forming young fruit, and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming.  Rise up, my darling!  Come away with me, my fair one!”

Solomon writes this love sonnet about the heart of his lover beating ever faster as she contemplates the arrival of the one she has been waiting to see.  The hope is that they will be together, never again parted.  It is Spring, and visions of resurrection abound; winter is fading, giving way to young blossoms, singing birds, and the promise of fruit on the vines.  Hibernation is over, it is time to arise!

Even an old dog’s ears stand up when the scent of the hunt is near.  It’s proof that the eager call of youth never really leaves.  I have to confess this “young man” inside of me loves all the seasons.  I love the Spring and Fall particularly, but all the changes of life are interesting and blessing.  I love the awakening of things. 

What is true in the natural realm is often a mirror to understand spiritual matters.  Looking forward to the call of arise, my darling is at the very center of Christian thought.  It is the resurrection to which we aspire, our lives of death transformed to an eternity of abundant life with the One who loved us enough to die for us.  Who could deny this is the love story of all love stories?

And in love stories there is one certainty; it runs deep!  Lovers feel both pain and joy on no small scale.  What’s true in human love runs even deeper in the spiritual realm.  Consider the pathos of Jesus’ statement to Judas when the traitor led the palace guard to arrest him in Gethsemane:  with a KISS, Judas…really?  There’s no denying the pain of a love story that ends with heartbreak.

But the other side of that is the happily ever after variety of love.  Even that phrase evokes for an old dog proof that the hunt is worth it…not just for physical love, or the satisfaction of being with people you love, but the eternal thirst we all have for being loved, being wanted. 

And that is the truth of what is at the heart of God’s creation purpose.  He created us to love us.  Because…God is love.[1]  

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, we are aware that You designed our hearts to love You by loving each other.  We are also aware we are sometimes not very good at that.  Grant us power to change that this day.  Let us be what you are, love in word and deed.

For You Today

You may have read the words rise up, my darling as what a human lover says to his or her loved one…read them today as the words your God speaks to you! 

You are loved; you are wanted, and that, unconditionally…no strings!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Romans 7 see Hidden Brides and Little Foxes

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[1] 1 John 4:8

In the Beginning

[1]

Monday, April 2, 2018

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.  Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good.  Then he separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”  And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.  Genesis 1:1-5^(NLT)

Our backyard has been something of a war zone the past week.  It was a really perfect metaphor for the Lenten season and all the chaos of darkness as we prepared for the dark time of Good Friday.  There were downed trees, with the accompanying deep gouges and ruts in our lawn as the timbers crashed to the turf.  There were broken ornamental shrubs, trampled flower bulbs and cement walkways demolished!  Most of the trees were over a hundred feet tall, and less than 60 feet from the house; they needed to go – my bride and I didn’t need to watch the carnage!

Whatever possessed me to invite a gang of strangers with chainsaws to assault the trees in our yard during such a time as the culmination of Lent…well, chalk it up to my approaching second childhood!

Still, amid the chainsaw disaster God provided a reminder that His beauty can soften the most broken heart with a surprise.  Our little peach tree had buds that had been frozen the week before; we assumed they would just drop off.  

But Thursday morning we were treated to an assurance of light on the horizon.  Against the backdrop of debris scattered everywhere, the double-blossom made its way into view, and brought a smile to these glad eyes.

There’s an analogy in there somewhere, of how, even in the darkest times of your life…the genuine tragedies of losing a beloved one, or having the doctor’s report that wasn’t expected, or a relationship that has been broken and seems irreversible, God’s rainbow shows up.

For You Today

Easter is the reminder above all that you are not completely destroyed as long as God is still living.  This is still His world…and you are still the apple of His eye.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

At the Right Time and In the Right Way

I advise you to obey only the Holy Spirit’s instructions. He will tell you where to go and what to do, and then you won’t always be doing the wrong things your evil nature wants you to.      Galatians 5:16 (TLB)

Monday, July 1, 2013

The Live Oak tree is a Southern landscape staple.  I took the above picture on a visit to Charleston, South Carolina's Boone Hall Plantation in 2010.  It is even more impressive in person!  While most oaks are deciduous, dropping all their leaves in the winter, the Live Oak keeps its leaves all year long.  It's deciduous, but deceptive!  In winter the leaves are dead, but they just stay in place looking quite alive.

Then comes spring!

God’s natural cycle of change occurs and the sap starts flowing, awakening everything that was dormant.  New leaves grow, pushing the old off; they fall and life continues.  Just why this tree acts differently than other deciduous trees is unimportant (to me), but God had a purpose to create the Live Oak to act this way.

There is a parallel in living the life of a spirit-led follower of Jesus Christ.  Some things in our lives (like Live Oak leaves in winter) seem to be alive and vital.  But they’re dead!  At the right time spring happens; the Holy Spirit moves in our lives like sap through a massive Live Oak trunk and branches.  The deadness begins to fall off and we can sense the living, pulsating newness of God’s life changing us.

Don’t pull off the leaves

God’s spirit is the gardener; we are branches of the vine (John 15:1, 2).  Just like branches of a grapevine do not prune themselves, nor does a Live Oak prune its leaves, we don’t “manufacture” spiritual life.  That is up to God.  We cooperate – he prunes.

And therefore…

Whatever you’ve got going on in your life today…don’t try to pull the leaves off.  Cooperate with God in what He’s trying to teach you.  Wait for the gardener; He knows just what to do – at the right time, and in the right way.  

So, go; and grow.