Category: nature metaphors picturing Christ

WILDflower at Heart¹ (Song 2:1-2)

Wildchild among wildflowers image

Unshakeable satisfaction in human love is illusive, and an illusion, and needs to be put in its temporal place. The romance of the Song of Songs is not given to make us focus on human relationships, or long for a lover we don’t have, but to point us to the eternal substance of our inner life with Christ – and spiritual relationships, which are unshakeable.

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Can You Come Out to Play?

Empty swing set on a beach

There is something about the innocent, carefree season of childhood that I think we all long to reconnect with. But it’s not easy. I saved a meme that read: “Children smile an average of 400 times a day; adults 15. Children laugh about 150 times a day; adults 6. Children play between 4 to 6 hours a day; adults maybe 20 minutes. What happened?¹”

When a spiritual father was on his death bed, I asked him what he would wish for me to do more of after he is gone. His response? “Play more.” 

That was not the answer I expected! But the truth is, play (and its  twin, “rest”) is …

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“Love in the Mazzaroth” — A Star Trip to Song 6:10

Picture of a Mazzaroth star chart

Seek Him who made the Pleiades and Orion; and Who turns the shadow of death into morning. – Amos 5:8

Last week I had an off day. A few of them, actually, feeling lost, disconnected, and weak from an internal spiritual battle. (which really, is just a form of the original one) On this …

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On the Scent Trail of Henna – Song 1:14

The Ein-gedi Botanical Gardens, Israel

The Shulamite woman quietly enters a room, where King Solomon is seated at his “round table.” Busily talking to his men and looking at charts, he doesn’t see her behind him. But soon he lifts his nose to the air and closes his eyes…obviously catching a waft of her perfumed presence! This delights the Shulamite, and she sings, (which only she hears, as this is like an opera) “While the king is around his table, my spikenard spreads its fragrance!” verse 12.

Solomon returns to looking at his papers, but there’s a boyish smile on his face. We know that he knows, that his lover is in the room. The Shulamite, however…

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More on Nard – That Explains a Lot!

Caravaggio - The Crowning with Thorns, 1603

When the woman poured the alabaster box of nard (or spikenard) on Jesus, before His death, there was something else going on behind the scenes. And once “smelled” in the Spirit — It explains in no uncertain terms how Jesus could endure all the suffering that He did.

So with that brief intro, I really hope you will listen to this powerful audio that shares a certain detail in this story that will bless your socks off, (and hopefully more!) and bring a sweeter depth to your relationship to the living Christ.

It’s by Jay Ferris, only 6 minutes long, and clipped out from a longer conference talk. En-JOY!

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Spikenard – The Overflow of Love (Song 1:12) 

Pic of Spikenard Flowers and Root

While the king is reclining,⁠1 my spikenard spreads forth its fragrance. – Song 1:12

It’s a humbling awareness, for a humble soul, that one smells good, and someone is drawn to you for that reason. Sometimes one even forgets they are wearing perfume! Have you ever had that happen? You put on a fragrance in the morning, and get so used to the smell that you completely forget about it during the day? That is, until someone later on comments that you smell good!

Jesus is our mirror, and His smile will reflect back to us and tell us that our faith and works of love are pleasing to Him. When in the divine presence of God, we may on one hand be aware of our stench. But that is not what she says. This is important. I feel a sense of despair whenever I hear God’s children talk about how wretched they are. This is not the result of love’s transformation! Love makes us clean, and gives us the perfume of spikenard to wear. Not to cover our stench, but to delight our Beloved, Jesus, and draw all people to Him!

Are we ashamed of this, our smell? Paul makes it sound like it’s a great honor:

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Among the Lilies

Feeding Among the Lilies

Do you have a favorite flower?  What is the reason for it?   Whatever your story, I believe it may be something our Creator planted in your heart, as to a certain quality that He wants you to think of whenever you see that flower!

The Daylily (or the “Tiger Lily”) has been a favorite …

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The Gift of Raspberries

Picture of Raspberries

I visited my garden the other day, feeling a little bit like a failure. In a season that should be abounding, I could barely find anything that hadn’t been eaten up by bugs or killed off by choking weeds.  Now the fact is, I have been very busy with a new adventure.  So it’s been …

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