Secret Garden

Today's passage:  Song of Solomon 4
     I have only been to the Chicago Botanical Gardens one time.  I fell in love with the place.  If I could have afforded it, I would have been married there.  My most favorite section is the English Garden (surprise, surprise).  Fragrant roses and cottage florals, English ivy creeping up stone walls, ornate urns spilling tendrils from its contents.  I want to go back.  I want to build a cozy little home right in the midst.
     Solomon was the richest man in the world at that time and probably at any time.  He spent 13 years building his palace, and it was luxurious.  He spent 7 years building God's temple and it was grand.  I would have thrilled to see his gardens.  Can you even imagine?  He probably had every species of tree, bush and flower.  He would have had the best gardeners.  The walks through the gardens would have been highly impressive.  Fountains, bird sanctuaries, orchards, trellises, butterfly gardens.  It would have surpassed any botanical garden today. He would have had only the best.  I imagine they were extensive as well.  If he spent 13 years on his house, the grounds would have to match the lushness of his dwelling.

An Apple Tree in Blossom--Taken from Standard Bible Story Readers, Book One
By Lillie A. Faris, Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1925

     In the last few verses, he compares his new bride with a private garden.  She is a pomegranate orchard, a spice grove.  He compares her to spikenard, saffron, cinnamon, aloe.  He mentions calamus, frankincense, and myrrh.  Many of these were used in oils and perfumes.  He believes her to be the choicest garden when he probably already has all these in his own garden already.  Yet, in her, he finds them special.  She is unique.  She is his choice.  How God loves us like that!  What does God not have?   He created this world.  He built every mountain.  He owns every hill.  Like Solomon, he planted each garden.  He knows exactly what he planted in every plot.  Yet, he sees me, and I am unique.  I am unlike any other garden.  My spices, my fruit are appealing to Him. 
     I want to always be pleasing to my Lord.  I want to keep my garden attractive to Him.  He should always have access to my life.  Nothing should be off limits.  Any fruit, any spice  should be available to Him.  He lives in me already, He has built a home in my midst.  Does He always want to stay?

To, Not Past

Today's passage:  Song of Solomon 2
     "The voice of my beloved!  behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills."  Movies and commercials have often spoofed two young people in love in a flowery meadow running towards each other with wide open arms, and romantic music playing as they finally embrace.  They are smiling and happy and can see nothing in the world but each other.  The spoofs often have them running past each other or something else awkward when they do meet.
     I was picturing Christ as the beloved, leaping and skipping.  He is the man in the movie running toward me with his arms open wide.  Do I run to meet Him?  Do I see him alone?  Or am I distracted by something beyond Him?  Maybe the checklist of things I have to do today?  Perhaps the book I want to finish reading?  How about the bills I need to pay?  I have so many things in my life that take my focus off God.  So many things that cause me to run right past Him.  He comes to meet me, and I am not there.  He wants that special time with me each morning, and I have found something else to do.  That is not the picture of true love.  That is not the picture of devotion.  How well do I love my Lord?  How well do I listen to His voice? 
     The Shulamite woman knew Solomon's voice so well, that when she heard it, even before she saw him she knew it was him.    I know my husband's voice.  I know it so well, that I could be in a crowded room, and I could pick it out.  I know his tone, his accent, his speech patterns.  We have spent a lot of time together, that is how I know him.  It is the same thing with Christ.  The more time I spend with Him, the more I will know Him.  The more time I spend with Him, the more my love for Him will grow.  He will call, and I will answer.  He will run, and I will run to meet Him.  If my love is real, I will not see any of the distractions in the background, I will see only Him.  Cue the romantic music.