Blossoms are appearing! The season of songbirds has come, and the cooing of doves is being heard in the land.  Song 2:12

My family used to raise doves.  Just a pair of them, in a cage.  A special trait about them is their loyalty for life, and their focus. When our doves weren’t eating or sleeping they were constantly ‘loving’ on each other. Not just in their affection, preening, etc., but they mated what seemed like around the clock!:) And before they did, you could always count on a cooing dance from the male.  If you’ve ever observed them at birdfeeder stations you have likely heard and seen one singing his song to a female. [see video] Coo-coo-wah-(head bow) and repeat until she is finally receptive to receive him.
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I am going to boldly say that this image and the verse above is prophetic, and not just because it is almost Spring. There is a new season that is coming, and now is, that the Bridegroom is wooing His bride to love Him and Him in each other deeply.  This is no longer a generic doctrinal love, nor is it a temporal fleshly love. It is rather the truly loyal, passionate, and life-giving reality that physical marriage is only a shadow of.
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Listen for this heavenly song.  Discern who is singing it and who is not.  The song precedes His desired intimacy.  And this intimacy is so powerful that it is going to shake both heaven and earth!

Focus, Vulnerability, and Death

Look at you! How beautiful you are, my darling. Look at you!  You have the eyes of a dove.  Song 1:15

How stricken Solomon is, seeing the Shulamite arrive from her journey, riskily standing before him in the midst of the ‘shepherd’s camp’ with her bright eyes peeking through her veil (i.e. of flesh).  The first thing he saw and valued was her “dove eyes,” not her eagle eyes.  Speaking of this, I noticed at our bird feeders that the dove always seemed to be the last bird to escape trouble. Sometimes a hawk got one. What I discovered is that dove eyes have a remarkably wide scope of vision, but they have a single focal point.  They can only focus on what is in front of them.  And when they do, this makes them vulnerable to enemies.  Perhaps this adds meaning to why a pair of doves was a sacrifice for the poor who could not afford a lamb.¹  This gentle bird focused on love is as much a picture of Jesus Christ, as it is of the Bride suffering the same treatment as her Lord.

No Shadow of Turning

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.  James 1:17

I need to warn any readers here.  It’s no coincidence that what is about to unfold in the Song from this point on is very intimate and very life-giving.  Intimacy must have a loving atmosphere – and a loving look – in order to thrive.
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On the other hand if you’ve ever looked into the eyes of suspicion, fear, or disinterest, for example, you know what it looks like to look into a stranger.  That person might be your dearest friend, but if their eyes are shadowed by lies, you feel like prey.  There is no true intimacy in this environment.  Doves ‘see’ each other deeply.  They know who is theirs, and they have a heart to bring each other back into focus.
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The fellowship of doves.  It all begins with the eyes.
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If the eye is single [like a dove focused on one thing], the whole body [you and the Ekklesia on the earth] is full of light.  But if it be bad, the body will be dark.  In fact if your light is darkness [hypocrisy], how dark that is!  Mat. 6:22-23

¹ Luke 2:24