Scripture Memory Team Verse Fourteen!

I hesitated in sharing this... can you believe it?  At this point in time, it just seems so fresh, so personal, so intimate.  And it is.  Thing is though... it applies to every one of us... and that's why I'm sharing it with you!  First of all though, first things first... here is my memory verse for these next two weeks...

"My beloved responded and said to me,

'Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along.  

For behold, the winter is past...'"

                                   Song of Solomon 2:10 NASB

I would dearly love to just sit with you all for an evening, to teach and reflect upon this.  However, I'll just briefly share a few things that have been placed within my own heart regarding this particular verse and let you take it from there!  Let's read a little more of the surrounding verses before I carry on...

"My beloved responded and said to me,

'Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along.  

For behold, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone.

The flowers have already appeared in the land;

The time has arrived for pruning the vines,

And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.

The fig tree has ripened it's figs,

And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance.

Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,

And come along!'"

Just meditate for a moment on the fact that the Beloved 'responded'.  Whether it's a season of winter in our souls or in our circumstances, winter can be dark, cold, grey and bleak.  Our innermost being cries out for Life in the midst of it.  And then 'My Beloved responded and said to me... Behold, winter has past'.  When 'winter has past' it means that Spring has sprung and the grass has rize!  And I am almost certain that many of us welcome the news that 'the rain is over and gone'!  When Spring arrives, all things are bright and beautiful, all things are new. God, who is the Bridegroom, would have His bride, who is the church, who is us, you and me, to 'arise and come along'.   The signs of the arrival of the warmth and light of True Beauty is all around us, and we are to arise, walk with Him and take notice!

If you have spent any time with me at all, you know that I think of each one of the women in my life, regardless of age, as flowers... flowers in my garden of life.  I've written about you here and here.  You see, 'the flowers have already appeared in the land', the cross of Christ has resulted in not only His resurrection, but in our own!  We have passed out of death, out of the darkness of the earth, into the wonderful Light of the Living God!  We are the flowers, we are the colours, we are the fragrance and the beauty in the garden of God... and wonder of wonders... we are also His beloved!  If you could just see me right now, I am barely sitting on the remaining edge of my proverbial seat as I type out these words.  Honestly, God's Word just thrills my heart like nothing else!

Did you also notice that it is a time 'for pruning'?  Whenever you have the time, go and read through John 15 and see how the vine is pruned, who prunes it and why pruning is necessary.  It's beautiful!  God would have us to be abundantly fruitful in our particular blooming at this time on the kingdom calendar.  It's time to shed off the old and step into the new... He bids us to 'Arise', He calls us 'beautiful', and he beckons us to 'come along!'... 

As women of God, let's arise with our God, and take note of the Spring around us, of the women around us, and let's bloom for His glory and purposes!  None of us look exactly alike, our colours are different, our shapes are different, our heights and widths are different, even the 'where' of where we are planted may be different according to how we respond to darkness and to light... yet we all can bloom beautifully where we are planted and fulfill God's purposes for our being on the planet at such a time as this.

Together, we are a beautiful display of His splendour!

with love,