Love Letters

      I love a good love story.  Nathaniel pursues Cora in “The Last of the Mohicans”.  Lancelot saves Guinevere, riding off in the sunset on horseback.  Adam and Eve alone in the garden walking with God in the cool of the day, aware only of each other and their God.   There’s something about a good love story that stirs my heart.

      We are living in the greatest love story ever told.  So much of life around us distracts us away from the realization of how deeply we are pursued and loved, but that does not lessen the facts.  The bride price has been paid, we have been chosen, we are loved with an everlasting love.  Do you see Papa’s pursuit of your heart each day?  

      When I met my husband he was in the Coast Guard stationed on board a ship in Virginia  while I was in a small town in Tennessee.  It was before the time of e-mail, and free long distance.  There was not much access to the phone so our main communication was through letters.

      Letters became the lifeline of our relationship.  At first they were filled with basic information, sharing our hopes and dreams, but as time progressed we began to speak more tenderly of our affection and love.  Eventually, each letter became a sacred, cherished declaration of love.  I couldn’t wait to get home from work to check the mailbox.   Sometimes the wait would get the best of me so I would leave at lunch in hopes of finding one waiting.  

     Getting a letter was like hitting the jackpot.  I couldn’t wait to break into the envelope and see what my David had spoken to me.   My heart, like a dry sponge soaked up each word, memorizing and savoring them like a fine delicacy.  Line upon line told me of how greatly I was wanted and pursued.  I read each one over and over again, wearing natural creases into the pages.

      The letters continued to come until my beloved came to take me as his bride.  At the wedding, joining our hearts as one, we declared our love in the presence of friends and family.  My bridegroom had come, taken his bride and now the wedding feast would begin.

     What would have happened, I wonder had I read the letters out of obligation or responsibility.  What if I spent time perusing them because my love expected me to.  Wouldn’t it have taken something out of it?  And what if I had been told that if I want to know my love I needed to read his letters of instruction, wouldn’t that have left them dry and empty?

     When I was a young believer I was told that God’s word was my instruction manual.  Just as I wouldn’t drive a car without reading the manual I shouldn’t be a Christian without reading the Word.  Every good soldier reads their instruction manual, right?  So, I did.  And Papa in His mercy blessed my attempts.

      I remember when Papa began to whisper to me about His word being a love letter.  He reminded me of my letters of love from my David.   With that picture in mind, the precious Words left by my Papa began to take on a different meaning to me.  Now I could see that it was a book full of kisses from his mouth to my heart not an instruction manual.  Love is hidden in each page.  With each revelation of affection hidden in Papa’s Word a love letter is delivered to my heart’s mailbox.  

    Leviticus is a difficult read in my opinion, but in his whispers He tells me that I would be living Leviticus had He not come and rescued me, fulfilling the requirements for the law on my behalf once and for all.  

     In the story of Elijah by the brook being fed by ravens, Papa shows me that He will provide for me, sometimes through extraordinary means.  In Hosea, Papa reveals His relentless pursuit in the story of Gomer.  In John, the verses of the lost sheep tell me that He will hunt me down until He finds me.  The story of Gideon tells me that He sees me in the way He created me, not in the way I see myself.  The chronicle of Joseph reveals to me that He prepares me and calls me out at just the right time.  And Revelations tells me of my future wedding.

     Line upon line, story upon story, verse after verse, the declarations of Papa’s everlasting love pour out.  My Papa loves me so profoundly that He has written to me to tell me.   Page after page He declares to me how desperately He loves me.  How could I not draw away to a quiet place to read and remember?

     His Word is a kiss from His mouth to your heart.  Read and remember how greatly He loves you.  He’s left a love letter in your mailbox today.  Let Him love you through His Word.

   “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for your love is more delightful than wine.” Song of Solomon 1:2

Jewelz

You can find Julie at her blog:  Jewelz Sightings