Love is...

Love: A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.

Beloved: Dearly loved,well loved, dear to the heart

On the Eve of our 27^th Wedding Anniversary...October 22, 1983 was forever a turning point in my life. So in honor of my husband's love for me I am writing this post. I have also posted pictures on Facebook. My life with him has been amazing. Sometimes a struggle for me at least. He is always so full of patience and goodness. I can't imagine life without him.

When I think of my husband... strong, good, kind, caring, beloved; I think of our life together and our marriage and union.  I am reminded of the account given in

Genesis 2:18-25 says, “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

There was not a fit helper for Adam out of all the animals, think about how many creatures that is, don't forget the bugs, caterpillars, snakes, etc. That is a lot of creatures. None of them were a good fit for Adam. But God has a plan. I just love that God always has a plan. He knows just what to do. He gets busy, and prepares a surprise for Adam. I love surprises (well, good ones anyway.) God gets creative and makes Eve. Now Eve was perfect for Adam, Adam recognizes this immediately. Don't you love Adam's reaction to Eve... He burst into poetry (verse 23.) Now, if I think about my husband bursting into poetry, I crack up. Not his style, I guess. Although sometimes it might be nice. Then God says, “Therefore”, I love this word, because it is a pointer word. It points us to something important. Because of what God did for Adam, He makes a pronouncement for us all, it is recorded in verse 24. Because God gave Adam, Eve, specially made just for him, men shall leave their parents and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Remember the definition for love, we started with? Remember the part that says, “a sense of underlying oneness?” Look at that verse again what does God tell us, “they shall become one flesh.” This is more than just the physical part (I know that is what you were thinking of.) It is a spiritual, emotional, mindful oneness. As Anne of Green Gables would say, you become “kindred spirits.” The last part of that verse talks about being naked and not ashamed, more than physical, but more like they were not afraid to bare their hearts to each other. They could be themselves and feel loved and accepted, just as they are.

Loved this quote from Matthew Henry on Genesis 2:18-25, "The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near to his heart to be beloved." Right where I want to be!

I love the feeling that I have when I go to bed at night and lay my head on his shoulder and he wraps his arm around me. I feel safe, protected, and loved, but more than loved, cherished, treasured, a part of him and all that he is. I guess we really have become one.

Pondering, Again

As I read this verse... Luke 12:15 “And He said to them, 'Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

I began once again to ponder my accumulation of things. Do I covet? It brought me to the issue of contentment. Contentment? Yes, am I or would I be content with just what I have or less? Am I content with what God has for me? Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' Which then brings us to an issue of trust. Do I trust God to do what He said He would do? Do I trust God to know what is best for me? Do I want to trust Him? Do I trust that He is who He says He is? He says He is good, righteous, loving, and faithful. Do I believe that?

Oh my! I have opened a can of worms, haven't I. It gives one pause to think or 'ponder.'

Let's see if we can get some of these worms back in the can.

Luke 12:15 was used as a New Testament interpretation or statement of the 10^th Commandment. Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.” If you are like me...when you read that you say, “Nope, I have no desire for an ox, not that my neighbor has one, or his donkey, (not that I wouldn't like to have a donkey, a cute, little miniature one) he doesn't have one of those either. So, I know I am not coveting. I'm good.” But read Luke 12:15 again, “And He said to them, 'Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Oh dear, “abundance of possessions”? Surely not, Lord. You can't mean that. I mean, I live in the land of abundance. The American Dream is to accumulate. Are You sure You want to say, “abundance of possessions” Lord?

In the end it is like I am the child arguing with my parent about whether or not I have done what they asked me to do. I know I haven't, I mean technically, I may have done what they said, but did I really do what they intended? 

God has richly blessed me and my family, beyond what I could have imagined. He wants me to enjoy what He has given, but... not so that it takes over my life and I forget who gave it to me and why He gave it. My focus should not be on the accumulation of things but on Him.  Do I struggle with the accumulation of things?  Of course, do you?  I want to live my life to bring glory to God and God alone.

Peace, Peace with God

I liked this defintion of the word "shalom" in Hebrew, "all things in their created place doing what they were created to do in loving relationship with their creator."  Having thought of the word "shalom" having the meaning of "peace, peace be with you" I found this definition to be thought
altering.  What if all things were in their created place, where God had placed them and wanted them were doing what God had created them to do and were doing it in loving relationship to Him; wouldn't that give peace to you and me.  Wow! Open your mind and think about it... it is mind boggling.  Everything God created, the trees, the bees, the birds, each individual person, all exactly where God wanted them and doing exactly what He wanted them to be doing.  Whether it was to be pollinating the flowers, loving a neighbor, singing a song of praise, giving oxygen to the world...whatever it is that God created it or them to do, they were doing it.  What a wonderful, peaceful, beautiful life that would be.  Maybe that is what heaven is like. Then add this verse, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."  Ezekeil 36:26-27  It is God who gives us a new heart, one that is tender and soft and He gives us a new Spirit that causes us to walk in the way, His way and obey His rules.
He is the one that causes us to desire peace, peace with Him.  He causes us to desire to be in the place He created us to be in doing what He created us to do.  So that we can enjoy peace.  Shalom.
(Shalom definition by Mark Driscoll, in The Power of Words and the Wonder of God, I don't know where he got it or if he just made it up, just thought it was good.)