Rise Up, My Love (113): Most Exclaimed

Song of Solomon 4:10 “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!” I do not think there is another verse in the entire of the King James’ translation of Scripture—perhaps in the entire world of all great literature—where there are three exclamation marks punctuating one sentence! This verse comes near the midpoint of The Song of Songs, and it stands as a great proclamation of God’s love for us. If we could fathom the meaning of this one verse and allow it to permeate our souls, we would understand perhaps the greatest mystery of the universe…and comprehend “what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge,” and “be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19).

So, just exactly what does this great lover of our souls say to us?

“How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse!” The king looks into his beloved’s eyes, sees her love, and is totally overwhelmed. This time it is not her beauty that he praises; it is her love. Oh yes, beauty attracts, but beauty alone will never sustain a relationship. “Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates” (Proverbs 31:30-31). Solomon’s bride has proven her love through tireless acts of devotion. She is not only beautiful, she is full of the beauty of goodness.

“How fair!” Notice, he does not tell her “how fair”…he does not explain it, he exclaims it! How fair? More fair than words can express. Have you ever received something so thrilling that you just couldn’t think of the words to describe your excitement? What did you say? “How wonderful!” “How thrilling!” “How beautiful!” This is what the bridegroom is saying: “How fair!” The Hebrew word for “fair” is yapeh which means “delightful; sweet; beautiful.” The King sees His beloved’s love and finds it too delightful for words. The Hebrew word translated “love” is the word dod which is frequently used to describe the physical expressions of love. It is reasonable to assume that the King has gone from being delighted by the love he sees in her eyes to being delighted by the experience of her love.

The love of Christ for us is beyond comprehension. That he should so delight in our love for him is beyond imagination. Is it possible that he could be as overwhelmed by our love as we are by his? Even though our love for him is truly just grateful appreciation for all he is and does? “We love him because he first loved us” (I John 4:19). “Christ is the center to which all response to the love of God moves” (Watchman Nee). As we understand more fully the mystery of God’s love, we are drawn into greater depths of love for him. This is understandable. But, that Christ is just as thrilled with our love—no, even more thrilled—that is unfathomable. How could he be sublimely happy with our love, which at best is a dim reflection of appreciation for all he is and does? It is because he loves us with an infinite, perfect love. His love is greater than ours, and his understanding is deeper than ours; likewise, his joy in us is greater even than ours in Him. In I Samuel 20:41, it says that Jonathan and David “wept one with another, until David exceeded.” David, as the type of Christ, felt even more deeply than his beloved friend Jonathan. His love was greater, so his tears and pain over their separation were greater.

I remember the day my toddling firstborn son (over 35 years ago) brought me a beautiful yellow flower as a gift. I recognized the flower immediately as the bloom from a zucchini plant. Worse, it was a zucchini plant from the neighbor’s garden. But, I also recognized the love that went into the gift. I gave him a kiss and thanked him. Then, we found a little vase and put the fragile bud into some fresh water on the table. Finally, I explained what type of flower it was, and to whom the flower belonged. He helped me wash up the breakfast dishes to earn a dime, and then we took the dime over to the neighbor as recompense for the flower.

Isn’t this the way the Lord deals with us? So often, our best efforts are “all wrong” by his perfect standard, but does he trample on us for trying to love him? No, he is gentle and kind. He sees our heart and is touched by every tiny step in the right direction. A wilted dandelion in the hand of a young child given with love may bring more joy to the heart of a parent than a whole bouquet of roses given without love. This is why our Lord says in I Corinthians 13 that no amount of eloquence, knowledge, or self-sacrifice can compensate for a lack of love, and that true love is the greatest gift one can give. Christ wants our love, recognizes our love, and is thrilled by our love, no matter how feeble. We despise our imperfect graces, but Christ rejoices over them. Our greatest insight into our spiritual richness is to see our own poverty. Our greatest attempt at love only makes us see how little we love; our greatest step toward humility is to recognize our own pride; the closest we become to being Christ-like is to understand how hopelessly unlike the Master we truly are. We tug at our little treasure of a dandelion until it is torn and crushed, and if we’re spiritually “old” enough, we’re almost ashamed to bring it to our Lord at all. But, he reaches out and lifts us into his arms. He is not ashamed to call us brethren! He is not ashamed because we are so clumsy and have no resources for buying roses. He is thrilled with us! He holds us to himself and weeps tears of joy that we have come to him and have brought our feeble gift. Can you feel his almighty love?! His love is infinite. It is the magnitude of his love rather than the perfection of ours that makes him exclaim, “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse.”

 

 

I’m Thankful For…

They say that if you take the time to verbalize thanks for 3 blessings each night you’ll become a perceptibly happier person, and so, I’m going to make a more conscious effort to count my blessings night by night! Here are my 3 in honor of Thanksgiving Day in America:
I am thankful for life, liberty, and the freedom to pursue happiness. 
Life! I am so grateful that our newest grandchildren, Baby Samuel Azariah, is alive after 3 days in this world as a super preemie. “Samuel” means “asked of God,” and he has been fervently asked for these past 5 years! “Azariah” means “God helps,” and we are throwing ourselves on God’s mercy to help this tiny babe thrive. Life is an incredible gift from God, and He wants us not only to live, but to live abundantly! Jesus explained:  “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Thank you for life! I am also thankful for eternal life. Yesterday a dear, saintly believer was ushered from this life to the next. He was the man I mentioned on my November 3 post…diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and passed from death to eternal life in less than a month. I know that he is now safely in the arms of Jesus and the presence of God: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28). Thank you, dear Father, not only for the incredible gift of life here on earth, but the promise of eternal life in heaven with you for all who will accept the gift of salvation through faith in Christ! “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). I’m also very grateful for liberty…the freedom to soar, glide, come and go freely. My heart aches for the millions of people who are not free in this life, but I also know that our spirits can be free regardless of our physical circumstances: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). I’m also extremely grateful for the chance to pursue happiness. I notice that our constitution doesn’t promise happiness, but only the right to pursue it within the bounds of the law. Happiness means different things to different people, but I know that, for me, happiness is bound up in my relationship with God: “Happy is that people, whose God is the LORD” (Psalm 144:15).       I was happy last week spending time with my family in a tropical paradise, but I’m every bit as happy (& more so) here at home, delighting in our new baby!               May the Lord bless you with your own unique experience of life
—eternal life—liberty, and happiness this Thanksgiving and every day!

“Even though it’s only Thanksgiving Day, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.” (Inspired by Richard Roeper…it’s snowy here!)

“You can tell you ate too much for Thanksgiving when you have to let your bathrobe out.” Jay Leno

“I approximated the Black Friday experience at home by hurling myself into a wall a number of times and then ordering online.” Kumail Nanjiani

Happy Thanksgiving Thoughts and Leu Gardens

“O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.”
~William Shakespeare“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.” ~CiceroWhile visiting in Orlando last week, we had the great joy of visiting Leu Gardens. All the remaining pictures were taken at this beautiful tropical, botanical garden.“For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” ~Thornton Wilder “Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.” ~The Bible, 1 Chronicles 16:8 “Remember God’s bounty in the year. String the pearls of His favor. Hide the dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in light! Give this one day to thanks, to joy, to gratitude!” ~Henry Ward Beecher “The unthankful heart… discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!” ~Henry Ward Beecher “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” ~The Bible, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “If you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch you must first invent the universe.” — Carl Sagan (Thank God for our Creator, who made apples!)“Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, — a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.”
~George Herbert “Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day.”
~ Robert Caspar Lintner “For what I have received may the Lord make me truly thankful. And more truly for what I have not received.” ~Storm Jameson (Amen.)“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endures for ever.” ~The Bible, 1 Chronicles 16:34 “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy “To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.” ~Johannes A. Gaertner “I give thanks to my Creator for this wonderful life where each of us has the opportunity to learn lessons we could not fully comprehend by any other means.” ~Joseph B. Wirthlin“But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.”~Jonah 2:9“For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson “At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee.”
~The Bible, Psalm 119:62 “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.”
~The Bible, 2 Corinthians 9:15 (The gift? Our Lord, Jesus Christ!)“Dear Lord; we beg but one boon more:
Peace in the hearts of all men living,
peace in the whole world this Thanksgiving.”
~Joseph Auslander “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
~The Bible, Philippians 4:6

Great Stirrup Cay: What Makes it Paradise?

Last week I had the great joy of doing something I’d never done before!  At the tender age of 64, I went on a vacation with my 2 brothers and my sister.  I think the last time we went anywhere as a family was probably 60 years ago when we moved from Lafayette, IN to East Lansing, MI. So…it’s been a long time in coming.  In fact, it never even occurred to me to dream it up, but last summer at our family reunion (with all spouses, kids, and grand children), one of us older folks mentioned that it’s hard to talk to one another while also wanting to enjoy our kids…and then one thing led to another, and my brother Wolle invited us to join him for a cruise, and nobody could make it but the biological sibs…and away we went! My sister Annie was the only one of the five of us who couldn’t make it. We departed on a short cruise together out of Miami  on Norwegian Cruise Line’s beautiful ship, “Sky,”  and then spent the remainder of the week in Orlando with my sister Lynn.  The most exotic day for me was our visit to Norwegian’s private island, called Great Stirrup Cay,  a sandy, 250-acre gem lined with coconut palms (did I mention tourists?) and alive with the raucous antics of sea gulls and sanderlings.  My brother Rob was just recovering from surgery for spinal stenosis (less than 2 weeks out) & had no business being on the trip a’tall, so he came later for lunch, but Wolle and I hopped aboard the first tender we could catch and hiked to the far end of the island before anybody else even seemed to know it existed!  There is a gorgeous lagoon near the very western end of the island, and after a good trek in the balmy 83° breeze,  we’d worked up enough body heat to love swimming in the lush, tropical water, which was also about 83°!   🙂  The best snorkeling is along the rocky islands and outcroppings, so after a great barbeque lunch (provided by the cruise line), Wolle and I enjoyed snorkeling to our hearts’ content (because the water was so warm). The fish were very curious. When I held still, they’d come up and try to nibble at me! However, they were camera shy & swam off whenever I tried to film them. Surrounded by such beauty, it’s pretty hard to resist imagining what it would be like to live there. You know…Robinson Crusoe or Swiss Family Robinson style…But despite the scenic beauty and luxurious weather, it occurred to me that what I always love best about being wherever I am is the company! Paradise wouldn’t be paradise without having two absolutely great big brothers to share it with (…or my husband or other loved ones). Paradise for me is not primarily not a place, it’s a presence. Being in the presence of warmth and love. Ultimately, what makes any place a paradise is the warm embrace of God’s love. Without Him, even heaven would seem like hell, but with Him, any place on earth seems almost like heaven to me!

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7).

Not by Might, Nor by Power

Do you ever think it’s all up to you and then realize it’s really not? I’m all about trying my hardest and doing my best, but the truth is…my best effort is simply not enough to actually accomplish whatever it’s in my heart to do. Do you find that true for you too? Life is always bigger and the challenges greater than they appear. For instance, I love writing this blog and imagine that if I do a good job, the blog will flourish and more people will read it and find encouragement. Only, last week I felt convicted that my job was to concentrate on my brothers and sister during a wonderful week of reunion and not take any time to write posts (other than a couple I prepared ahead). Still, at the end of the week, instead of having very few viewers, the blog hit a new high, was visited over 1800 times and had a dozen new followers. That is a perfect example of the obvious: God is ultimately the bottom line in life. Whatever good happens is by his grace and mercy. Hard work is good, but God’s grace is the true determiner of what will happen. Now, that was a very tiny test last week. This morning was a huge test for our family: After days of battling pre-eclampsia, my daughter-in-law had an emergency C-section, and we’re now a rejoicing family with a new 27-week-0ld baby in our midst! Baby Samuel weighs 1 pound, 9 oz. and is just a touch over 1 foot long. His hand is about the size of his father’s thumb nail. He’s in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) all hooked up and looking so tiny & fragile.  (Here he is with his dad [and my son], Daniel.)  I am praying like fury for this little life (as well as for Brianna’s recovery), and I know that Daniel, Brianna, our family, and everybody in the NICU is working like crazy to help him survive. But, ultimately, his tiny little life—like all of ours—is in the hand of an infinitely loving and powerful Father who cares more about him than even we do and will provide for him as only God is able. For us trembling humans, it’s the fear v.s. faith trial. May we all choose faith! All prayers appreciated! Thank you. 🙂

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
(Zachariah 4:6)

Rise Up, My Love (112): The Chains God Puts around our Necks

Song of Solomon 4:9 “Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.” Solomon’s bride was adorned with golden chains about her neck (1:10; 4:4). The chains were doubtless very exquisite works of art, but could any ornament—no matter how elaborate and beautiful—arouse a man to passion?…especially a necklace that was most likely a gift from Solomon himself?

Efforts to entice a man by ornamentation alone (particularly those which he’s provided), would probably be destined for failure…as is so aptly described in Proverbs 11:22, “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.” But, when the outward adornment is preceded by the first fruits of godly love, as revealed by the look in her eyes, the bride’s jeweled neck served to heighten the king’s passion. Why? Certainly the brilliance of the jewelry would attract him, particularly against the backdrop of her beautiful neck, but perhaps he was even more aroused by what the chain symbolized.

There were likely many chains about the bride’s neck, but the king says that just one chain was enough to impassion Him. What about the chains stirred him? What did they represent in his mind that so aroused Him?

As a woman, I have discovered a special sense of possession that comes to a man when you wear things he has given. What woman has not felt the flush of appreciation when a man offers her his sweater on a particularly chilly day? She feels foolish for failing to have given proper forethought to prepare for her own needs, but she feels very grateful for the man’s sacrifice and provision to care for her. The man also feels a sense of nobility…and rightly so…for having “rescued a damsel in distress.”

Any man may care for any woman in such a gracious fashion (or vica versa!), but the more a man provides for a woman, the more he develops a sense of protection…which may gradually turn into a sense of possession. Caring for basic necessities is part of our calling as believers: “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Offering—and receiving—gifts is an entirely different matter. A gift says something more than “I am concerned about you as a child of God’s creation.” It says, “I care about you in a special way.” The more extravagant the gift, the stronger the statement.

I wear a wedding ring as  a symbol of my husband’s honor and protection. And, my husband loves my ring as much as I do…if not more…because it reminds him again of his love for me. I have seen him reach down and admire it sometimes when he sits beside me at church, and then he smiles at me. This, I think, may be one of the things that so delighted the king when he saw his beloved adorned with a beautiful golden chain about her neck. He may have been reminded of all the love and passion that first inspired him to give her such a gift.

There is something else which might have aroused the bridegroom’s passion: the contrast between the bride as he was enjoying her at the moment, and the bride as he could remember her from their first meeting. Do you remember one of the bride’s first pleas? “Look not upon me, because I am black” (1:6). Look at the description our Lord gives in Ezekiel. 16:1-14. He takes us as (spiritually) unwanted, unwashed orphans, causes us to live, brings us up tenderly, and then marries us when we’re of age and in need of a husband! “I washed thee with water…I clothed thee also with broidered work…I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck…and a beautiful crown upon thine head…And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.”

May we ever contemplate his amazing grace—although I don’t think we’ll ever fully understand it—and may we never lose our adoration and appreciation for him. May we never, ever fall into the terrible treachery of “trusting in our own beauty” or of going astray because of our success, as happened to Israel in Ezekiel. May we never forget that the development of anything of beauty in us comes only from the Lord’s “comeliness, which I had put upon thee.”

When our Lord finds us, we are black with sin and bond slaves bound by the chains of Satan. But, what is the joyous call of God? “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments…shake thyself from the dust…loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion” (Isaiah 52:1-2). Like Zion of old, we are the bride of Christ…awakened from the dead, released from the chains of sin, and to be beautified like “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2).

The chains of sin have been broken, and the chains of Christ’s love are gracing our necks! Yes, we are bound, but with the “bands of love;” Christ is to us “as they that take off the yoke on their jaws” (Hosea 11:4) and has invited us instead to “take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matthew 11:29).

What are the chains of love Christ provides for our neck? One is the way of wisdom, which “shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck” (Proverbs 1:9). Another one is the “ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price” (I Peters 3:4). It is all the graces with which our Lord has enriched our spirit, provided by his precious blood and fashioned together like links in a golden necklace: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, faith, hope, wisdom, and on and on! The graces of his Spirit sparkle like links in a golden chain, adorning our necks and arousing our Lord’s ardor for us! Oh, the treasures he has provided for his beloved. May we wear his gifts with head erect and eyes aglow, ever gazing in adoration at our Lord and Savior!

 

Benefits of Unity: The 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics

Did you see any of the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics’s opening exercises? From a distance, it almost looked like a fireworks display,  or possibly as if you’re looking through a kaleidoscope. But look again…a lot more closely! All of these artistic geometric designs were created by people…hundreds of people…extremely fit young athletes who trained and strained to learn their roles …working hard together for many months, putting aside their own agendas in order to create something grand,  supporting each other and holding hands …all in order to put on an unbelievable performance  that absolutely dazzled the watching world. Can you imagine what would happen if Christians trained like athletes? If we concentrated all our efforts into making beautiful designs from our lives…not only as individuals, but as a world-wide church, the body of Christ? Just imagine all we could accomplish if we really supported one another and had true unity in Spirit, trusting God to protect us and make everything turn out right. I think the world would be amazed, and God would be pleased.May we work together every day to build up the body of Christ and share God’s love with a watching world.

“You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22). (If you’d like to see an 8-minute clip of this event, you can watch it here):

 https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/8oqPR5-GLuA?rel=0

 

Rich Mullins: Ragamuffin and Kid Brother of St. Frank

Earlier this year (2014) Color Green Films released a heart-rending, heart-warming feature-length docudrama on the life of Rich Mullins, entitled Ragamuffin. It’s one of the most touching movies I’ve seen in a long time! Although he was just five years younger than I, and a fellow Hoosier, I never knew much about him. Rich Mullins was the son of a rough, verbally abusive Indiana tree farmer and a tender-hearted Quaker mother. He grew up in the church and had a deep faith, although he never fit the image of fine and fancy church-going Christians in his day. But, he truly attempted to live honestly and to follow Jesus and was greatly influenced by the life of St. Francis of Assisi.  In fact, after his song, “Our God is an Awesome God” hit the top of the music charts and his music started earning millions, Rich entrusted the profits from his tours and record sales to his church, asking only to be paid the average salary for an American each year and that the rest be given to charity and missions to help the poor, such as Compassion International. His thought was, “Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my Savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken-hearted…” Last Monday I wrote about the empty nest syndrome and our need for intimacy, so I was especially touched by his frank commentary on human love: “I would always be frustrated with all those relationships even when I was engaged. I had a ten year thing with this girl and I would often wonder why, even in those most intimate moments of our relationship, I would still feel really lonely. And it was just a few years ago that I finally realized that friendship is not a remedy for loneliness. Loneliness is a part of our experience and if we are looking for relief from loneliness in friendship, we are only going to frustrate the friendship. Friendship, camaraderie, intimacy, all those things, and loneliness live together in the same experience…” Although Rich Mullins grew up in the church and never wavered in his faith, he struggled with depression, radical non-conformity, loneliness, and eventually alcohol. Because his own father didn’t understand him, Rich leaned heavily on the love and wisdom of two father figures. One was the father of his roommate at Cincinnati Bible College, and the other was Brennan Manning, who also wrestled with alcohol addiction and wrote a marvelous book called  The Ragamuffin Gospel (thus, Rich’s group became the Ragamuffin Band.) The book is also very gripping, although I think the movie impacted me even more. Ragamuffin would be a special balm for anyone who feels lonely in their faith journey, had/has a hyper-critical parent who is never satisfied with you, of if you struggle with self-worth or addictions. Rich was never happier than when he was barefoot, helping native American youth learn music on remote reservations. He also felt a closeness to believers in both the Protestant and Catholic churches. Although he considered becoming a Roman Catholic, he never did:  “A lot of the stuff which I thought was so different between Protestants and Catholics [was] not, but at the end of going through an RCIA [Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults] course, I also realized that there are some real and significant differences. I’m not sure which side of the issues I come down on. My openness to Catholicism was very scary to me because, when you grow up in a church where they don’t even put up a cross, many things were foreign to me. I went to an older Protestant gentleman that I’ve respected for years and years, and I asked him, “When does faithfulness to Jesus call us to lay aside our biases and when does it call us to stand beside them?” His answer to me was that it is not about being Catholic or Protestant. It is about being faithful to Jesus. The issue is not about which church you go to, it is about following Jesus where He leads you.” Amen to that!

Rich Mullins died in a car accident at the age of 41… a deep loss for the Christian community. Ragamuffin helps extend his legacy of radical faith, and it’s inspired me to a deeper commitment to charity and honesty…hallmarks of his life.

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).

Rise Up, My Love (111): The Look of Love

Song of Solomon 4:9 “Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.” Another rendering of this text is, “with one glance of your eyes…” in just one look! What did the king see in one glance into his beloved’s eyes that so ravished his heart? What consumed him, gave him courage, and melted his heart into a flame of passion?

Is there anything in all the world that conveys love as quickly and perfectly as the look of the eyes? Eyes speak more eloquently than words, and when there are no words left to express the inexpressible yearnings of the heart, still the eyes speak on, mutely illuminating the depths of the soul. “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light” (Luke 11:34).

This must have been what the king saw: the singleness of his beloved’s eye—her whole vision filled with love for him; her whole body filled with his light. All of the difficulty of the steep climb up the mountain to obtain a heavenly perspective, all of the terror and weariness of walking through the lions’ dens of Satanic opposition, all the panic and perplexity of following her Lord across the rugged mountains where the dark leopards of doubt and fear roam…none of these things had moved her. Nothing that He had called her to had discouraged her or turned her aside from loving him and following him. He saw in one look of her eye that all the winds of tribulation had only fanned the flames of love into a white heat, burning the dross out of her heart and leaving nothing but a pool of molten gold. “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

Oh that our hearts might burn with a passion like that, to so delight and ravish the heart of our Savior! Is it possible that one glance of our eyes could evoke such an amazing response? Think of the person who is most precious to you in all the world. Think of what delight that dear one’s look of love brings to you. How true it is that “the light of the eyes rejoiceth the heart” (Proverbs 15:30). Is there anyone you’re longing to see? How would you look if you got to see that person this instant? What if you could not touch them or speak to them…if you could only convey your love through your eyes. Could you do it? How would you look?

This is the look of love. Studies have revealed that when someone looks at a person they love, the pupils of their eyes dilate. The reason for this in unknown, but it is well known that dilating the pupils allows in more light, and it also allows someone to see more deeply into the eye (which is why ophthalmologists dilate a patient’s eye before examining it). Studies have further proven that people consistently rate pictures of people with their eyes slightly dilated as being “more attractive” than pictures of the same people with their eyes normally wide, even though the experiment was done randomly enough so that people did not consciously realize what it was that was more attractive about the people! The “look of love” brings about the “response of love!” When someone’s heart is drawn to another person, his eyes will automatically widen (as a physiologic rather than intentional response). This opening of the eye allows the other person to look more deeply into his eyes…and read the unspoken message, which—even if not consciously understood—brings out a response of attraction in the second individual.

Have you ever watched lovers gazing into each other’s eyes—totally oblivious to the world around them? Have you ever heard the expression, “making cow eyes,” or that lovers are “moonstruck?” This is the universal effect of being overwhelmed by the emotions of love! One of the most beautiful sights in the world is to see a man and woman who truly love each other, standing at the altar—their eyes shining as they face each other repeating their marriage vows. They beam at each other with a radiance that rivals sunshine and bathes everyone around them in warmth and light. I’ll never forget the sunrise wedding of my son Michael and his bride (the second of their two services). It was the perfect visual for Psalm 19:1-5, “The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his handywork…In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber…” We were all gathered on a beautiful New Jersey beach, and when the sun began to emerge above the vast Atlantic Ocean on that cloudless August morning, Michael blew a conch shell to begin the service. While the young couple exchanged their vows, the sun came spilling over the waves and drenched us all in pink and gold. As brilliant as the sunrise was, my eyes were more drawn to the incredible radiance flooding out from Michael and Grace…a joy that couldn’t be contained and splashed all over us in a glory even greater than sunshine. God’s workmanship in man (Ephesians 2:10) is even more magnificent than his physical creation!!

This is just a picture of the love of the king and his bride. “As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee” (Isaiah 62:5). This is the look he sees in her eye. It is a look that says, “You are more important to me than anything in the world. In fact, the world might not even exist anymore. … Does it? You mean everything to me! You are everything to me!” This is the love that Christ longs to see in us…a love that makes all other loves appear as hatred by comparison (Luke 14:26). Such is the look that ravishes his heart.

Oh, Lord, I long for you to produce such a look of transported love in me!

 

 

Family Portraits of Puppies; Thoughts on Companionship

It was just about this time last year that our beloved German shepherd died,  and in honor of the first anniversary of his departure,  I’m passing along some really darling pictures of “dog family portraits” sent to me as one of those infamous email forwards …along with a few thoughts I’ve had on how hard it is to lose companions.  For months after Abishai died, I couldn’t even tolerate the thought of another dog, since no dog could replace Abby…I mean, not only was it true, but it seemed  disloyal to his memory to even think about it!  But, it was a terribly cold winter, and I was glad he didn’t have to withstand the bad weather, old and arthritic as he’d become.  With Stephen and Joel home so much, the year passed quickly, and I haven’t felt inordinately lonely, and now, Lord willing, we’re expecting a grandchild next spring here in GR!!! I may become so happily occupied I feel no need to replace our faithful dog at all.   Do you have a pet? An old pet?  Worried about what will happen after you lose your beloved companion?  I just got a letter from my sister lamenting that now, in her 70’s, the majority of her friends are either moving away from Florida, or—much worse—dying!   😦    I’ve concluded that there’s no replacement for the uniqueness of treasured companions—puppy or person!  Whether or when we choose to replace them is our own, very personal decision, but I know that God created us for communion—to love and be loved— …every last one of us!
I also know that above all human (or canine, feline, etc.) companionship  is the great love of God, who created us for fellowship with Him and longs for us to find our deepest needs met in him.  Everything else is just a little bit less.  Still wonderful, and still worth pursuing, but just not as perfectly satisfying.  Only God can fill that God-sized hole that He created in our hearts! “I finally realized that friendship is not a remedy for loneliness. Loneliness is a part of our experience and if we are looking for relief from loneliness in friendship, we are only going to frustrate the friendship. Friendship, camaraderie, intimacy, all those things, and loneliness live together in the same experience…” Rich Mullins “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”
(1 John 1:3-4)