Winter

I was just flicking through the channels this evening when I spotted that the first Narnia film is on.  It started a while ago, so I've missed the beginning, but I've seen it before so I can keep up.

I've joined the story just at the point where Christmas has finally arrived in Narnia, because of the hope that the Pevensey children have brought to the land.  Father Christmas presents Lucy, Peter and Susan with gifts and then declares, "Winter is almost over."

As we watch, the snow and ice, which have characterised life in Narnia for over a hundred years, begin to melt and disappear.  Trees bud and blossom and the world becomes green again.

It's a beautiful image as we watch things that have been dormant or dead slowly coming to life.

It reminds me of this beautiful passage in the Song of Solomon:

       "Look around you: Winter is over;
       the winter rains are over, gone!
       Spring flowers are in blossom all over.
       The whole world’s a choir—and singing!
       Spring warblers are filling the forest
       with sweet arpeggios.
       Lilacs are exuberantly purple and perfumed,
       and cherry trees fragrant with blossoms."

       [Song of Solomon 2:10-12 MSG]


I often feel that there are things in my life, or in my heart, that are frozen over

But in the same way that the ice in Narnia is melted by hope, the ice in my life and in my heart is melted by the hope of new life that comes from God's love and forgiveness.

Whatever the season.



 

Vulnerability Is A Risky Thing

Today, I treated myself to some lilies. 

 

I know lots of people don't like them because of their smell, but I adore them.  They are my favourite flower.  I love how they fill up the whole room with their sweet, creamy scent.

 

Since I bought them at lunch time, two flower heads have opened up completely, and one is just starting to peel open its petals at the top.

 

I love watching them slowly opening up.  They start off as dark green, firm buds, which poke upwards at the sky.  But as they begin to bloom, the dark green buds fade through light green to creamy white.  And slowly, ever so slowly, their petals begin to separate from the bud and peel back to reveal a vibrant hot pink centre, which is simply breath-taking.

 

From the outside, you would never think that they would be so full of beautiful colour, or that the stamen and carpel could 'fit' inside the bud.

 

There is more than meets the eye.

 

It's the same with us.

 

There is always more beneath the surface.

 

We may seem like tightly closed buds, but we all have something beautiful within us and God sees beneath the surface to this beauty within.

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

 

[1 Samuel 16:7 NIV] 

 

However, whilst my lilies have opened up this afternoon, they have only done so because they have water and flower-food and warmth and light.  They have the right conditions.

 

It's the same for us.

 

We don't feel comfortable or secure 'opening up', or revealing what's really inside us, unless we feel safe.  Unless we have the right conditions.

 

We all have something beautiful to reveal, but opening up and revealing our hearts is risky, because it makes us vulnerable.  Anything or anyone can get in and they could hurt us.

 

Vulnerability is a risky thing, but it is also the most beautiful and freeing thing.

 

As Anaïs Nin said,

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
 

Risk blossoming.  Risk being vulnerable.