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I am feeling a yearning for spring, for the fresh green to spread over this dry, dull ground. To fill in the empty spaces in the branches, and to bring the scent of apple and peach blossoms to our trees. There was a blessing in the snow, for it placed a comforter of fresh, clean white over the lifeless, brown ground.
And as the days move towards spring and towards Easter, my soul is reaching for fresh intimacy with My Maker. It is so easy to become dull, to lose some of the freshness of First Love. What is it that continually pulls us away from First Love? That daily beckons for us to focus first of all on other things, instead of on the Lover of our souls?
I have been hearing the call of this Lover of mine (and of all who belong to Him), calling me from the routine, and the times of dormancy which creep up so quietly that we are not aware. And I am feeling the fresh winds of spring coming.
This intimacy is what we long for, what we are made for. Described so beautifully in the last chapter of One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are ...
"I am in my Father,
and you are in me,
and I am in you."
(John 14:20)
"Remain in me,
and I will remain in you."
(John 15:4)
"God is relationship
and He woos us to relationship
and there is nothing with God
if there is no relationship."
(Ann Voskamp)
"God makes love with grace upon grace, every moment a making of His love for us. And He invites the turning over of the hand, the opening and saying the Yes with thanks. Then God lays down all of His fullness into all the emptiness. I am in Him. He is in me." (One Thousand Gifts)
We are made for intimacy with our Creator, an intimacy that our earthly relationships are a foreshadowing of ... experienced fully when we, the Church, will be wedded to Him for eternity, and also tasted and lived as we walk closely with Our Beloved here on this side of eternity.
Forty days before Easter ... spring is coming ... and Love fills. My "giving up" for this season of Lent, is a giving up of the routine, the lifeless ... and the putting on of First Love.
Linked to Imperfect Prose, Walk with Him Wednesdays
Oh Cherry, this is simply gorgeous...I hear your heart beating and it is the most refreshing thing I could imagine reading today...and I love what you picked from Ann's book--I am taking it that you have finished? It really is this intimate and beautiful and we are made for it...this is the chapter that left some the most uncomfortable...but I'm praying they see it as 'a holy uncomfortable' b/c it is holy and good and right for us to seek Him ever as First Love.
ReplyDeleteThank you for refreshing me and writing so beautifully...such a gift!
Putting on of the first love - so beautiful and exactly what we need!
ReplyDeletemy soul is reaching for fresh intimacy with My Maker.
ReplyDeletethis is such a tender plea to know him more... a beautiful prayer, friend. thank you for sharing with us.
this was so lovely. And this-- "We are made for intimacy with our Creator, an intimacy that our earthly relationships are a foreshadowing of ..."-- yes, so beautifully written, this is what we are made for and long for. My soul felt rest here, thank you for this.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful post! Yes, I often hear the call of Him, who wants me to choose Him first & above all - just to spend some time with Him.
ReplyDelete"Putting on the First Love". I love that!
This was wonderful.
ReplyDelete