27 Jun The Honeymoon

There comes a point in every relationship or exciting job when the newness wears off and the ho-hum of everyday reality sets in. The perfect job we find out isn’t so perfect as the demands are a little too demanding and those great co-workers tend to be late or simply annoying.  Or, it’s the cruel moment in a relationship when that saintly-person we couldn’t wait to be next to now is a sinner we enjoy having space from.   We look back on our early days with nostalgia wishing we could return to the honeymoon period when everything was fresh and exciting.

I’ve realized this morning how true this can be in my relationship with Christ.

Yes, me and Jesus have been at it for a few years now.  There have been some AMAZING highs and some gut-wrenching lows with a lot of mediocre Tuesdays in between.  You know those types of days, right?  Days that you kinda connect or maybe not at all as you just roll through the day with no real spark of anything between the two of you.  Maybe that’s just me.

I doubt it though.

You and I both know it takes work to keep a relationship fresh and invigorating, even a relationship with Jesus.  Demands and desires of life steal precious moments and we spend day after day too weary and too tired. Again, maybe that’s just me.

But . . . I doubt it.

Life is just too hard sometimes and the battle too real.

It’s here the writer of Hebrews words in chapter 10:32 provide an invitation to something more.  He says,

“Remember those earlier days…”

(You know the days in the beginning when you were just so excited about a relationship with Me and about grace?)

“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering…..”

(Love makes us do crazy things, right?  We are more bold, more brave, more willing to die or fight to protect the one we love.)

What’s something crazy you’ve done for something or someone you loved?  Did you put up a fight?  Endure something painful to see progress?  Keep carrying on when you felt like quitting?  The writer of Hebrews acknowledges the acts of love his audience had been demonstrating,

“Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution;

at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated.

You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.”        (vs 33-34)

Amazing, isn’t it?  To see what we are willing to endure for love.  Why?  Because Love is that something better.  That lasting possession?  It’s the eternal Love that will never perish, spoil, or fade.  Real, unconditional, pure love.  A love that is frustrating to write about as words fall short in trying to explain or describe.

Which makes me wonder…

How’s the love and passion between you and Jesus these days?  Does the writer’s words to remember the early days between you and Jesus bring up fond memories of a passionate love that now feels stale?  Was the beginning of things for you and him about as exciting as warm, flat coke on a hot day?  Is there a memory there between you and Him tucked away that you could ponder on for a moment and consider returning to.

We need that passionate love to find the courage, the strength, the energy, the desire to continue to do this life well.

I’ve realized the reality of that today as I am eight days away from entering into one of the scariest seasons of my life.  Yes, the clock is winding down as this little book He’s asked me to write gets to be put on display.

Facing that reality reminds me that I need that thrill and joy of honeymoon love back again. What’s beautiful is that I can enjoy it in the very same breath I can enjoy rooted love.  It’s a love forged through seasons where the winds of challenge and change blow so strong your roots have to dig in deeper just to hang on. Which reminds me of an important truth,  deeper roots grow better fruit.  I hope my roots run deep enough that this next season has me bearing better fruit.

I end this morning’s thought with the invitation to go back to the early days, to experience the fullness of passionate love to help me step forward again. The closing words of chapter 10 draw me out of self-protection and isolation and into passionate love pushing away any desires to shrink back.

“Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.                                        For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 

For,

“In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith. and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed,  but of those who have faith and are saved.”

No, I will step forward and LIVE BRAVE.