Today's verses:
Psalm 42:8
Song of Songs 7:10 - 13
Philippians 4:12
Well there's the erotic love of S of S as clearly expressed as ever... lots of innuendo at the very least, so I'll not bother pursuing that one. The psalm speaks quite clearly of God's love, whilst the Philippians verse refers to contentedness. The psalm extract is lovely... God's love by day, God's singing by night... but it is to the Philippians that I will turn, everso briefly:
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
What is it that enables a perosn to be content during times of hardship? How can someone rise above being hungry or cold or unwell or whatever physcial, emotional or other hardship they face? I have a feeling the answer is 'love'. If we know we are loved, does anything else actually matter so much?
When we were children, money was often in short supply, but we never went short of anything we needed, and we always knew we we loved. No, we didn't get the holidays or consumer goods that some of our friends had; yes there were sometimes disappointments (and I'm sure my parents were every bit as disappointed as we were, if not more so) but there was always love.
In the Christmas cards I've received this year have been lots of kind messages from friends, some of whom have been moved by the events of the last year and a bit, and the way they have seen my response (never quite sure who this paragon is, but I'll go with it for now...). Perhaps it is because I am loved that I am able to love; perhpas it because I am loved that I can be content in whatever situation I find myself? Contentedness is not happiness and neithe ris it fatalism; it is something akin to joy. Given that love, joy, peace and hope are all parts of the fruit (singular) of the Spirt, small wonder they overlap and intertwine.
In sunshine and showers
Height and depth
In laughter and tears
Life and death
In good times and bad times
Health and pain
God's love,
God's love.
In fullness or emptiness
Poverty or wealth
In working and resting
Empty or full
In all times and everywhere
Boundless and free:
God's love,
God's love