I just returned from a visit down south, which is one of the reasons for the longer-than-usual delay after Song 1:7 :). The trip was healing and refreshing in many ways, not just as a reprieve from the cold winter here in N.Y., but especially to re-connect with people that I’ve gotten to know and love.
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Just before leaving on this trip I read an article that I felt was used of the Lord to help clear my focus and make my heart more enlarged. It was a blog post by Jamal Jivanjee on giving up the pursuit of success, productivity, and greatness for 2014, and embracing something far more simpler and organic. It is found here: http://jamaljivanjee.com/2014/01/get-a-life-giving-up-the-false-pursuit-of-success-productivity-and-greatness-in-2014/
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Related to this, something happened the next day upon arriving that I’d like to share. It was simple really, but if it wasn’t for the precious people I got to see I almost feel it was worth the trip alone to hear it!
In the evening a bunch of people gathered in the home where I was staying. It was a mix of friends and neighbors, and everyone was relaxed and enjoying a good time. There were two people there, who I will just call “Solomon” and “Shulamith” for reasons that you will understand soon. :)
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Solomon and Shulamith were not married, but were obviously a couple, and they were sitting together on the couch. Solomon had a “kingdom” of sorts, but in this story it was a business. Shulamith was an employee of his, but I had learned ahead that she was becoming something more to him. In the course of the evening someone in the group asked Shulamith what her dreams or goals were for the year. The whole room seemed to go silent. I watched as she crinkled her nose slightly and roll her eyes up and to the side to give it some thought. Then, far quicker than I would have imagined for such a profound answer, she responded with a happy smile,
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I thought of little else the rest of the evening. I thought of how fast she said it. How boldly she said it. And of all the things she didn’t say. I noted how she didn’t recite a list of goals and things to do in order to be worthy of this man’s love. She didn’t respond, “My dream is that Solomon would fall more in love with me.” She didn’t even respond, “My goal is to love Solomon more and more,” which if you think about it closely, almost implies fear and insecurity.
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Now despite the fact that “falling in and out of love” isn’t the best way to describe true love, there is a gist of what this woman said that I hope you hear the same way I heard it. To say as she did, “My goal is to fall in love with Solomon more and more” meant that she was purposing herself to be wooed by him. Her goal was to delight in a proactive love in him that she already assumed was there.
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It is no wonder that this “Solomon” responded the way he did! When she genuinely expressed that he was “willing and able” to love her and capture even more of her heart, you could see he visibly melted with a desire to be the cause and effect of even more responsive, appreciative love from her. This was not a woman who was worried, striving, or trying to measure up. She wasn’t perfect obviously. She simply believed that she was the one that he already loved, and she purposed herself to stay in this confidence.
As far as “being in business” together, what better partner to have than this, when any necessary ‘labor’ or ‘work’ springs out from this one simple focus of trusting in each others’ love?
May 2014 be filled with this very productive place of simple faith and delight in Christ our Solomon.
Love!
Pam
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
God abides in him, and he in God.
And we know and have believed the love which God has in us.
God is love; and he that abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment;
because as He is, even so are we in this world.
There is no fear in love: but perfect love casts out fear,
because fear has punishment; and he that fears is not made perfect in love.
We love, because He first loved us.”
1John 4:15-19
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17 comments
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Oh, Pam, how beautiful this post is. You see so much that others pass by. Like the spinning leaf….. It was so good to see you again.
Author
It was so good to see you too, Virginia! And that we got to share this moment together. :)
Love hopes for the best, and Love loves to Love. This Love is faithful, and faith-filled. It indeed does express a boldness, a boldness that others see. This beautiful story has a Ruth like fragrance to it.
“In the middle of the night, something surprised Boaz and woke him up. He turned and found a woman lying there at his feet.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m Ruth,” she said. “You are my family protector. So take good care of me by making me your wife.”
“Dear woman, may the LORD bless you,” he replied. “You are showing even more kindness now than you did earlier. You didn’t run after the younger men, whether they were rich or poor. Dear woman, don’t be afraid. I’ll do for you everything you ask. All of the people of my town know that you are a noble woman.”
~ The story of Ruth
Author
Thank you for this, Jim. There is indeed a beautiful parallel in the story of Ruth. :)
Hi Pam, This is indeed very good!! Thanks for having ‘Listening ears,” especially for the rest of us who might have let the “Moment” pass. Love, C.
Author
I so appreciate your comment, Carleen. In more ways than one you gave birth to this moment :)
Pamela,
I love this post. To delight in a proactive love that we assume is already in another changes the nature of the relationship completely. So beautiful! Thank you for faithfully writing what you ‘see’!
Author
It sure does! Too often we go about our relationships with each other, as we do with Christ – assuming rejection. This is unbelief. The love of Jesus can be explicitly trusted, and that includes the love He has put in our hearts for each other. And I am so appreciative of the love He has put in your heart for me :)
Pamela,
As He Is: perfect Love. Love is bold, no doubt!
Author
I like that, Kat. :)
Dear Pamela
This post has meant more to me than you will ever know. As I was reading about people’s goals and “one”word for 2014, I felt quite small and on the sidelines with chronic illness that keeps me housebound and often lying down for a great time of the day. But then I thought I can just love Jesus and be with Him and honor Him by never complaining about the road He has chosen for me! So often we can chase dreams and goals and totally miss the greatest One of all.
Blessings XX
Mia
Author
Dear Mia, I appreciate your comment so much. What you said is so true. I’m reminded of: “And now abideth faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.”
I know for a fact that so many are blessed by your journey, as they watch your faith being tried, and catch the life-giving fragrance of your unfailing love and trust in Christ through it all. I know, because I am one of them :)
Beautiful story Pamela!
This reminds me of Paul’s prayer at the end of his life… ” oh that I may know Him…” To know The Lord more, is to love Him more. And Love is inexhaustible, for Love is an eternal, endless Person. There is no end to Love, therefore there is no end to the pursue. And oh to know the depths, the heights, the widths and the breadths of it. Deep calls unto more deep. There is a song by Celine Dion that I recently listen, called, “Didn’t know love” some of the words really resonated with my heart. It says ” in the past I’d settle for a touch, I told myself it’d be enough, but I was lying, because I did’t know love…
How true that is, we don’t really know the power of this Love, and how far it can take us. The Lord asked Peter three times: do you love me? Then after that conversation He said: “Peter, when you were young, you went and did as you wished, but the day will come Peter, when you will be so captured by Love that you will go where you wished not.
And they were stoned, sawn in two, they were thrown to beasts, they were shipwrecked, humiliated, afflicted, tortured and loved not their life even unto death. Oh the power of that love that first loved us, it “messes you up” it “messed up” Jesus didn’t it? But is beautiful and worth it, the only thing that there really is, no Love, no Life. It is the thing that will remain.
Love this response Marsela!
Brother Jim,
This Love in you, always encourages and uplifts others, is alive and rich.
Bless you brother! Love you!
Love and new life flows from the heart of listening ears. There is so much joy shared through the one who surrenders the cares of the world in exchange for a revelation of Love. You are a mighty revelator of love, Pam, way beyond the mere knowledge of it! You have tasted and seen it! Thank you for sharing your personal visits!
So much beauty in the post, in Jamal’s post & also in the comments. His unlimited, guaranteed love for us is unfathomable. May we each rest in it & share it as it multiplies in & thru us. Processing this great love brings us to new heights. Ever elevating. Ever increasing. So exhilarating. Great, great stuff to be unpacked here!