Hark! My Lover--Here He Comes

What imagery in today’s first Scripture reading, Song of Songs 2: 8-14.  It begins with “Hark, my lover—here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. ”  That is our God, our lover, hastening  to us. Can’t wait to arrive. Passionately seeking us!  Verse 9 tells us that God “stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices [of our souls].”  What walls have I erected to keep my Beloved out of my vision, out of my thoughts, out of my actions, out of my decisions?  Whatever that wall is, God patiently waits for me to let Him into my life. He says to me in verses 10-13:

                                “Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one,

                                       and come!
                                For see, the winter is past,
                                       the rains are over and gone.
                                The flowers appear on the earth,
                                       the time of pruning the vines has come,
                                       and the song of the dove is heard in our land.
                                The fig tree puts forth its figs,
                                        and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.
                                Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one,
                                       and come!”

Listen to God say to you: “Arise, my beloved,…, my beautiful one, and come!”  I envision myself on my deathbed and hear God calling me His “Beautiful One” and beckoning me to come to Him. Come, your “winter is past, the rains are over and gone.” My vine is being pruned, purified, of all that is not of God—a process going on throughout our lives here on earth.  The beauty of our souls, our true selves, the self that is one with God, is beautiful.  God sees it. Do I?