 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O noble daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand. 2 Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies. 3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. 4 Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus. 5 Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses. 6 How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights!] 7 Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters. 8 I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its fruit. Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples, 9 and your mouth like the best wine. She It goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips and teeth. 10 I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me. The Bride Gives Her Love 11 Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages; 12 let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. 13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved. Meditation We give our love to people and places we trust. God’s steadfast and sure love is the safest place for us to vulnerably open our hearts, giving our love to Him. Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:31-39). When Jesus Christ dwells in our hearts through faith we will be rooted and grounded in God’s love, a love that surpasses all understanding (Ephesians 3:16-19). The Groom continues to woo the woman, his beloved. The poetic imagery illustrates the song of his heart for “the noble daughter” and “loved one.” The bride is his beloved and the groom desires an intimate encounter with her. The groom wooing his beloved points beyond, to a God who woos His people to come to Him. The bride responds, trusting her beloved. With excitement she tells the groom to meet her in a secluded place where the rebirth of nature through spring will inspire their love for one another. “There I will give you my love,” says the trusting bride. Love awakens longing and trust inspires vulnerability, opening our hearts to give our love away. As the bride trusts the wooing invitation of the groom, so too the Church must trust the invitation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus woos us by giving His life, inviting us to give Him our love. The steadfast love of Jesus gives a safe space to “trust in the Lord with all our heart…” (Proverbs 3:5), giving our love exclusively to Him. Richly Dwelling -Have you responded to the invitation of Jesus to give your love to Him? -Where do you give your love that is not the person or place of Jesus and relationship with Him? -When was the last time you set an appointment to give your love to Jesus as the bride does in today’s reading? Take time to make a day alone with God. Get into the garden of His love for you. Key verse 12 let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. Comments are closed.
|