Author: sparrowsong

The traditional Hebrew word “shalom” is often translated simply as peace, but it’s true meaning is significantly more complex, & quite nuanced. Indeed, this beautiful word means peace, but it is peace in a comprehensive, life-sustaining sense of complete wholeness over the mind, body, emotions & spirit…over the individual life & all its relationships. According to Strong’s Concordance,

“Shalom means completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord. Shalom comes from the root verb shalom meaning to be complete, perfect and full.”

This definition reminds me of Paul’s declaration in Romans 8: “If God is FOR us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but willingly gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” Is it not, indeed, His desire to give us all things…for us to know in our souls that in Christ we have all that we need. Peter joins in the proclamation: “His divine power has given us everything we need for life & godliness” (emphasis mine). The journey toward wholeness is the life of each one of us wholly surrendered. In Hebrew, it is used as both a greeting & a farewell, becoming a proclamation on the life on whom it is bestowed. May we receive it; may we offer it.  May our Prince of Peace continue to pervade each & every area of our lives.

Come Rain or Come Shine was Billie Holiday’s song, & no one sings it like she did. Only she could so soulfully, so sweetly, so gently sing the words to what each & every one of our hearts long to hear from our beloved:

You’re gonna love me, like nobody’s loved me, come rain or come shine.

High as a mountain, deep as a river, come rain or come shine.

It’s such a beautiful song, & what an amazing promise it offers, but…do the words carry any truth? Is it really possible to find that elusive love, or even to faithfully offer it to another?

Though all good relationships are proved in their ability to weather the storms mentioned in this song, few in this world come close to dwelling in that symbiotic state where love is given & remains unfailing…always, forever. Life can be beautiful when we find love, but it can be messy too, just as anything involving human beings is. Our love falls short of being perfectly patient, kind, unconditional or selfless. Only through Jesus do we experience the satiating love whose width & breadth & height & depth all surpass our understanding. All tangible glimpses we are given here somehow first flowed from His throne.

The love & friendship He offers us is truly incomprehensible to the human mind, truly intimate. Phil Wickham sings:

“Your love is extravagant, Your friendship intimate.

Spread wide in the arms of Christ, is the love that covers sin.

No greater love have I ever known, than You considered me a friend.

You’ve captured my heart again.”

God knows our every flaw & failure, & loves us still, more than we can fathom. There is no fear in His love, for no matter what we do, He could never love us more or less that He already does. His love is already that complete. Zephaniah 3:17 tells us that He takes great delight in us, quiets us with His love, & rejoices over us with singing.

His Word is His love letter to us, & His creation continually plays the melody of His song. In the words of John Denver in Annie’s Song, we could, in turn, say of our Lord:

You fill up my senses, like a night in the forest, like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain.

Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean, you fill up my senses, Come fill me again.

Come, let me love you. Let me give my life to you. Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms.

Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you. Come, let me love you, come love me again.

We are made new in relationship with Him. We receive the love He has for us, but we also receive His ability to offer that heart to the world. An old poem by an unknown author  says: “I love Thee Lord, but with no love of mine, for I have none to give. I love Thee Lord, but all the love is Thine, for by Thy love I live. I am as nothing, & rejoice to be, emptied & hollowed & swallowed up in Thee.” By His grace, we can boldly sing to my Saviou, Friend, Father & Beloved:

“I’m gonna love you, like nobody’s loved you, come rain or come shine.

High as a mountain, deep as a river, come rain or come shine.”

In a way, suffering always causes blindness. It turns our gazes & journeys inward. In our pain, it is a challenge to really see outside ourselves & beyond the limited perspectives of our isolated experiences. When the storms come, most of us hunker down & attempt to wrap our minds around what is happening. We seek answers that are rarely forthcoming, explanations that are non-existent, solutions that are slow in manifesting. Although it is rarely useful, we often cast blame, often find a target within ourselves, often contribute to our own anguish.

As we wrestle with such thoughts, we must often wrestle alone. As the famed poem Footprints captures however, even when we can’t see our Lord walking beside us & His footprints seem strangely absent, it is in these times He scoops us up in His arms & carries us. His healing & growth oft come in unexpected forms, often through the very experiences we disliked, often as a surprise discovered through the advanced perspective of time. In his novel Jayber Crow, author Wendell Berry says it best: “I am always surprised, when I look back on times I have known to be laborious or worrisome or sad, to discover that, they were never out of the presence of peace & beauty, for here I have been always in the world itself.” The world bestows gifts that can restore damaged vision, & even strengthen it beyond what it was before. In a way, suffering always awakens sight.

Heraclitus observed that “The only constant in life is change.” This truth is older even than ancient Greece, yet in our own journeys, we often find ourselves surprised by & resistant to transition. Unexpected curves in our paths can throw us off balance & leave us searching for direction. God promises that His Word will be our lamp & guide, & also assures us of guidance as a component of communion with His presence. As Isaiah prophecies in chapter 30, verse 21, “Whether you turn to the left or to the right, your ears will hear a voice behind them saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it’.” Rather than an audible voice or a burning bush, however, we most frequently come to commune with our Savior by being attuned to His still, small voice. His paves our path gently by going Himself behind & before us, providing a guiding light & peace as gentle & as sure as the rays of the sun. In Jesus Calling (February 11), author Sarah Young says it this way:

“My Peace is like a shaft of golden Light shining on you continuously. During days of bright sunshine, it may blend in with your surroundings. On darker days, My Peace stands out in sharp contrast to your circumstances. See times of darkness as opportunities for My Light to shine in transcendent splendor. I am training your to practice Peace that overpowers darkness. Collaborate with Me in this training.”

Who better than our Lord to bestow light? Who better than our Savior with whom to collaborate? Who better than Jesus to plan our journey? May we discern His voice & surely as we watch the sun rise & set. May we respond to His leading as gently & pleasantly as we feel the sun warm & light our way.

In John 15:9, Jesus tells us “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now abide in my love.”  We not only have a God who has adopted & treated us as His children and heirs, & sent His son to die that we might live as such, He also provide for us a home.  Jesus tells us to remain in that love..to abide in it…to make our dwelling place in the home of His heart.  Wherever we go, whatever our circumstances, however far we may roam…we always have a place “where we can enter and be at rest, even when all around…is a sea of trouble” (31 Days of Praise, Ruth Meyers). This home is none other than the heart of the love that surpasses all understanding, a love that relentlessly pursues us.  

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros sing a very popular trendy song entitled Home Is Wherever I’m With You. To me, the lyrics have always shouted of God…the only One who can truly be our lasting place of refuge:

“Ah, home, let me go home

Home is wherever I’m with you.

Holy moley, me oh my

You’re the apple of my eye…

I’ve never loved one like you….

You’re my best friend

I scream it to the nothingness

There ain’t nothing that I need

Ah, home, let me go home

Home is wherever I’m with you.”

He also provides for our companionship; we are never left alone. Our Omnipresent God has promised: “Never will I leave you, & never will forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6, emphasis mine). In Romans 13:14, the Apostle Paul commands us to “Clothe [ourselves] with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Within the heights & depths of our human experience, we may feel unseen at times regardless of who we share our lives with tangibly. He sees. He surrounds us with His Presence, unfailingly goes behind & before us. He hems us in (Psalm 139:6), lives with us, loves us, sees us, understands us. He is THE ultimate Witness to each of our journeys. As the Psalmist proclaims:

“You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in-behind and before….Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far ends of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.  If I say, surely the darkness will hide me, & the light become night around me. Even darkness will not hide me, the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created me in my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:3-5a,7-13).

Let us accept Jesus’ invitation to share our respective & collective journeys with Him. “Remain in Me, & I will remain in you” (John 15:3). In celebration of this gift, we can rejoice with the cry of the disciple John: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (I John 3:1, emphasis mine).

We’ve all tried it….tried to fill our wells with broken cisterns.  At some point, almost all of us have been in a place where we’d do anything to have that one thing, or become that one thing, that would satisfy our longing souls. We’ve all pretended we’re okay without it, that we don’t really need it after all, that we’re not completely frustrated with the whole process.  We’ve thought that if we just keep waiting & just keep trying, maybe one day, we’ll come across it. And yet, most of us are still searching… still waiting.  

It’s the pretense of it all that keeps us searching, for in reality, we’ve been freely given the answer…the “One Thing”, as Rich Mullins says in his classic song. Deep down, we know He’s the One and Only who can satisfy our parched, longing souls.  God says it is only in acknowledging our poverty & emptiness, confessing our inability to save our own souls, that we’ll find it.  

He softly whispers to each beckoning heart: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have NO money, come, buy and eat!  COME, buy wine and milk, without money and without cost” (Isaiah 55:1-2)  A friend of mine once described the turning point in her own journey came when she realized she’d been scamping around the floor, desperately picking at the crumbs, yet there was a continual feast above prepared for her…she needed only accept the invitation.  Are we ready to accept? Are we willing?

Etta James once sang the lyrics to Mack Gordon’s classic love song “At Last”. Here, think how perfectly these words describe the love of our LORD:  

AT LAST…

My love has come along

My lonely days are over

And life is like a song….

Oh, and you smile, you smile

Oh, and then the spell was cast

And here we are in Heaven

For you are mine at last
So, what are we waiting for? At last, let’s accept His invitation…let’s feast with Him moment by moment…let’s rejoice in Him as He sings over us.

Like the sparrow, I am the most ordinary of creatures, & yet life has given me a magical song. Like most, this journey has held its share of adventures & challenges, gifts & paradoxes, joy & sorrow. Though single long into my adulthood, the Lord has been my companion. Though often frail & sick, My God has been my strength & sustenance. I’ve soared on the heights & plunged to the depths. I’ve been disappointed by others, disillusioned with myself, succeeded & failed. Yet…I’ve been changed…by…God’s…grace. It has swept me away on its currents, strengthened & freed me for flight.

Ann Voskamp has said, “Grace is like the wind, it finds us as we are, but it does not leave us as we have been….ALLis grace” (emphasis mine). These ponderings are a celebration of the journey & gift of life, a reflection of the process God has me in, a proclamation in my belief that regardless of circumstances, He is always at work for my good & His glory. Through the songs He has sung over me, I’ve been given my own. It is true: I am as ordinary as they come. Yet, His eye is upon me. His provision for me is perfect.

He Himself is my portion & my song.

“Why should I feel discouraged?

Why should the shadows come?

For His eye is on the sparrow,

And I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy,

I sing because I’m free,

For His eye is on the sparrow,

And I know He watches me.”

-Civilla D. Martin, 1905