When Love Takes You by Surprise
Yes, it’s that day. Valentine’s Day. Not my favorite day for many reasons, but it does force a few thoughts on loving well. At times, love takes you by surprise, but for the most part love’s most powerful expressions come in the daily experiences of life.
Speaking His unfailing love into my heart for the past year in unique ways, God delights in revealing His love for us in the most surprising ways. During a recent snowfall, I met with a profound experience of His love which I captured in a new poem.
The Secret of the Snow
Have you listened to the sound of snow
As the silent stillness captures the muted
Utterance of frozen beauty floating effortlessly to the earth?
But more than the resonations of its stealthy coming,
Is the mesmerizing way it apprehends the sounds all around.
Placing them under a spell of peaceful repose.
Stepping out one wintery morning,
As the chill air enshrouded my breath
Captivated by hushed wonder, pausing, boots still in hand
Whispers invited me into a sacred moment
A moment filled with the secret to my soul’s breath
Closing my eyes, the stillness wrapped round me, warm
As if time stood still, the comfort of the snow stole
Closer, closer, a wordless song of loves to a weary heart
As if it knew my soul’s deepest need, heard the unutterable cry
And drew me into the treasures hidden within its quiet rest
Stilling all within me, and the busy world around me
Like a heavenly blanket of peace, the snow gently covered a weary earth
There, in one hallowed moment, the quiet stillness whispered
The secret which the snow came to bring
He, who holds the treasures of the snow, comes within its midst
Gently imparting the fullness of peace to creation weary and worn
An embrace, at once both comforting and whimsical
Yet encompassing the fullness of all my soul’s deepest needs.
That morning, as I meditated on Psalm 143:8: “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” God stepped into my little world wrapping me in a blanket of snow.
When God’s love takes you by surprise, the trajectory of your day completely changes.
But then, maybe that’s the point. Maybe it’s His way of wooing us from vain pursuits into a life altering moment of His love. How has God’s love taken you by surprise?
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