Psalm 89:1 …Your love, God, is my song, and I’ll sing it! I’m forever telling everyone how faithful you are. I’ll never quit telling the story of your love— how you built the cosmos and guaranteed everything in it. Your love has always been our lives’ foundation, your fidelity has been the roof over our world… The Message

I once saw a house that I could live in, a house with a cathedral ceiling, great windows overlooking sand and sea, and a cozy fireplace. It proved  impermanent, nothing like God’s palatial palace of faith, hope, and love.

I arrived at the house veiled in darkness, curtains drawn, the porchlight burned out. Ironically I had just heard a teaching on people groups awaiting the Light of Christ. A friend once cautioned that giving power to others can lead to unlit paths. And so it does. The only reliable Light is that of Christ. His Light and Love go hand in hand. I’m so glad He took mine tonight. 

I Corinthians 13:12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!  The Message 

Matthew 5:1-2 When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said: 3“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

 4“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

 5“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

 6“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

 7“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

 8“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

 9“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

 10“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

 11-12“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

                                                                                                             The Message

I am at my rope’s end, hanging onto Christ.

  

Someone mentioned the impact of an ”everyday novel” on life. I never thought of novels as “everyday,” probably because of the complex effort, imagination, and time that go into their writing. I once prayed to become a better writer, and God answered my prayer taking me on a journey, the likes of which seem biblical in proportion, at least to me. Trying to write about it proved harder. Seven times, I marched around the start of a manuscript; it never fell into place. Eventually I gave up writing, not grocery lists or email, just  stories–that is, until one night, driving home from an invigorating teaching on God and His missionary heart, I tuned into a call-in show about the Bible. As the voice of a ten-year-old rose from the car radio, I hung on every word; a detail was mentioned, an idea planted. There are only five stories in the world, and I’m writing one of them, a love story dedicated to the Author and Finisher of my Faith. 

Philippians 1:9  So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.              The Message

Genesis 29:20 So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel. But it only seemed like a few days, he loved her so much. 

1 Corinthians 14:1 Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you…

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting.  

2 Corinthians 12:14 …I have no interest in what you have—only in you.  Children shouldn’t have to look out for their parents; parents look out for the children. I’d be most happy to empty my pockets, even mortgage my life, for your good. So how does it happen that the more I love you, the less I’m loved?                                                                                                                  The Message 

Love is a work in progress. Hence, the question.

 

When Israel forgot the Lord God, He took her to the desert and wooed her back with roses.

Hosea 2: 14-15 “And now, here’s what I’m going to do:
   I’m going to start all over again.
I’m taking her back out into the wilderness
   where we had our first date, and I’ll court her.
I’ll give her bouquets of roses.
   I’ll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope.
She’ll respond like she did as a young girl,
   those days when she was fresh out of Egypt.”  The Message

The crown of thorns had no fragrance but turned “Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope” where wildflowers bloom in profusion for the Bride’s wedding bouquet. 

Song of Solomon 1:12b My beloved is a bouquet of wildflowers
   picked just for me from the fields of Engedi. The Message

Someone once said that mortal love is sensuality satisfied and true love is love sacrificed.  One classic example is O’Henry’s story of the poor young couple worried they will have nothing suitable to give each other for Christmas. The wife cuts off her beautiful long hair to buy her husband a chain for his watch as he decides to sell it to buy elegant tortoise shell combs for her hair. 

True love is no fiction. Christ and His Bride are the archetype couple.

Ephesians 5:25-28 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They’re really doing themselves a favor—since they’re already “one” in marriage.  The Message

I once lived in part of a city where the tallest buildings were pyramids. I have seen the stuff of child’s play, reminders of  my own Egypt. Despite the comforts of Pharaoh’s palace, Moses moved on for the sake of justice. So did I. One I call friend, Christ-centered, has encouraged me yet again to take another step of faith. For the sake of love. 

Ephesians 4:1-3 In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences. The Message

Song of Solomon 2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his. 
                                                                                         New King James Version

I stopped writing long enough to live life differently, more intentionally, mind and heart awash in the love of Jesus.  He put my tears in a bottle and turned them into sweet fragrance. 

Psalm 34:18  “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted 
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

2 Corinthians 2:15  “Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.”

                                                       New Living Translation

John 15:9-10 “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love. ” The Message

Genesis 30:20 “Then Leah said, God has endowed me with a good marriage gift [for my husband]; now will he dwell with me [and regard me as his wife in reality], because I have borne him six sons; and she named him Zebulun [dwelling].” Amplified Bible