Christ: A Rose
So much has been going on these past few days. Chris has had to have the computer, so I haven’t been able to blog much. (makes me a little sad)…Anyhoo… I have it today and I’m trying to think about what I want to write about. Hmmm… we’ve had a lot of (as my mom would say) “goings ons.” Yesterday was nice. The weather was gorgeous and I REALLY enjoyed my children. We just played outside and held an Easter egg hunt, cleaned up the yard a little (I’m figuring out in my mind what I want to do with our yard this spring…), and went for several little strolls down the street. I even made it to the gym! So it was good—mainly because I wasn’t exhausted. I really need to look at being a mom as sort of my job and not stay up so late at night. It really helps when I go to bed at a reasonable time. I’m able to get up before the kids and have some time with the Lord AND with myself. Anyway, today is a different story. Chris is off this morning and we were both awakened by Josh at around 7am. We were running around getting stuff ready for school. I was able to get Will there on time but I realized that I had forgotten his Easter basket for their little Easter egg hunt today and had to return later with one. As I was walking down the hall I heard the crazy noises coming from his class. I just thought “bless those teachers!” There are nine children in Will’s little class and seven of them are boys. Yes, it’s pretty crazy. Right outside their door were several of the children’s artwork. It was a picture of an Easter Lilly with the words…Christ Arose! It reminded me of yesterday when Will and I were doing ours together. I said, “this project is about Easter, it says ‘Christ Arose’. Do you know what that means?” He said, “..um…that a rose came up?…” I of course explained what it meant but I couldn’t help but reply with “sort of, Will… a rose sort of did come up…Jesus could be referred to as a rose.” This verse immediately popped into my head:
“I am the rose of Sharon.” Song of Solomon 2:1
In my little concordance in the back of my bible it said that “Sharon” was a plain in Israel. Isaiah makes reference to this place in 33:9..”the land mourns and pines away, Lebanon is shamed and withers; Sharon is like a desert plain, and Bashan and Carmel lose their foliage.” Doesn’t seem possible for any kind of rose to be able to thrive in such a place. My mom has become some sort of a rose expert… and the way she babies those things… I know you would NEVER expect to see one in the desert. Probably much like finding Christ, God himself, walking in the flesh on this earth. Isn’t that amazing….but he did… he was.
I think about my life and the crazy days. You know.. Christ is enough and can give me “enough to satisfy you fully” (Joel 2:19) even in the midst of pain… or sorrow… or stress…or uncertainty. It says “Sharon will be a pasture land for flocks, and a valley of Anchor a resting place for herds, For My people who seek Me.” Isaiah 65:10. Sharon… the barren desert… will be a pasture! That is what Christ enables in our lives. He enables our frustrations… our spiritual dry spells…. our worries… our fears… all to become a resting place….FOR MY PEOPLE WHO SEEK ME. Chris and I were talking and what he said one day really had me thinking. You know, in my past I have referred to times in my life where I feel like the Lord is distant… or I’m not hearing him speak… and I call these times.. “Dry spells… or dry times”….. Chris was saying … “that’s sort of a self-centered mentality…..he really said we should refer to those times as “sin times” or “times we aren’t seeking Christ”…. really.. the dry thing sounds like it’s up to God to continually fill us….. like we are this well and it is up to Him to pour into us instead of US pouring into Him.” I don’t know.. I hope I explained all of that well enough… it really made sense to me… even more so in regards to the Isaiah 65:10 verse. God promises to be enough for us…for his people who seek him.
As my bible studies have come to a close I have started to begin reading through different books in the Bible… I have been alternating… one from New Testament… one from Old. I just finished reading John and now I’m reading Joel. I remember the other day reading through some of the first Chapter and going “this has NOTHING that is applicable to me.. …God I need to hear a word from you… I really have A LOT on my heart that I need to pray through….” I prayed earnestly for the Holy Spirit to speak to me through His word… to teach me….and I remember coming across the first phrase in chapter 1 verse 19….”To you, O Lord, I call…” and I circled it. For some reason I felt compelled to issue my prayer requests to the Lord beginning with this statement and I just wept. I was instantly reminded that I have not been taking my needs to the Lord. I sat there that morning and lifted up every one of my children and the things that we struggle with… I lifted up my husband… see nothing major… but those things are my LIFE! It’s the daily battles… the daily chores… the day in day out things that seem to “climb into [my house] like thieves..they enter through the windows..” Joel 2:9….and before I realize it… I’m this nasty, ungrateful, unprayerful… miserable person… just plain old ‘Life’ can truly zap the joy I have in Christ–not to mention if something traumatic is going on! And that morning I realized that I have not…called upon the Lord regarding those things. He wants you to go to Him with your needs. Some days my needs are that I’m just completely exhausted and I think I can’t make it through the day. Some days it’s major things like people with REAL issues and REAL health problems. He wants us to pray to Him about everything. He is a personal God. It’s not like only major things are “request worthy” (as sometimes I rate in bible study… people ask for prayer requests and yes, I have issues… but no way am I going to offer up..’please pray that my children will sleep tonight’ while I’m sitting beside the lady who asks ‘pray for me as I start my chemo’ ) BUT… during these times I feel empty of Christ…I was thinking that God was not speaking to me… but in reality… I was not speaking to Him. I say all of this to say that God is true to His word. What we are reading in the bible…. THESE ARE PROMISES!!!! PROMISES people… not something that God is able to do… something that God WILL do. In Christ we are able to have a rose garden growing amidst our deserts…. in the center of our wars. Sometimes I enter conversations with God just crying and saying.. “I have nothing to say today… I’m angry….but help me, Lord.” I don’t know… all of this is WAY difficult… and I’m a VERY difficult person to deal with…..But I am thankful for Christ and I know that Christ is “gracious, and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love ” (Joel 2:13) in His dealings with me. I will leave you with this verse I read today…. so rich in HOPE …. I pray you all continue watering your gardens with His words…..
“Be not afraid….for the open pastures are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousnessl He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.” Joel 2:22-24
………All to continue watering our roses in the middle of our deserts.
