L O V E S P R I N G

Image credit madaise on Flickr

What is it about kids and water?  Whether or not a baby enjoys his bath, I've never seen a child who did not delight in grabbing at water with outstretched hands, splashing in puddles or pools, thrilling to sight of  a waterfall, running thru' a sprinkler, squirting others with a hose.  Even as adults, unless we or someone we know suffered a tragedy in water, we seem to relax near it, in it.

     Growing up in town, I was a teenager before I got into a "body" of water--and that was a dirty country pond!  Imagine my wondrous excitement of seeing the ocean for the first time as a married woman; I fell under its spell of enchantment.  Only in recent years, when our family made a trip to Canada for a wedding, did I get to witness the powerful majesty of Niagara Falls.  As my son and I ran through its spray laughing, I felt the years melt away.  For those moments, I had no worries, no care, just sheer exhilaration.

     That's the way I believe God wants us to delight in Him.  "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Ps. 37:4)  He created us for His pleasure.  Since He IS Love, He needed created beings in His image to love.  But robotic love is not love.  We had to be able to choose to love Him, hate Him, or ignore Him.  Man chose his own will & way, and sin plunged us into the Fall away from Him.  When we return and receive Him, we experience joy.  But even as Christians, we sometimes allow other things, good as well as bad, to crowd Him out till we're dry, stale, withering--rather than cleansed, refreshed carriers of the Water that quenches all thirst.

     In 2005, I was asked to write a sonnet.  I'd never done that before--but soon heard my heart tell me it must be a love sonnet about my Lord.  Here's the simple result:

                                                          

                       L O V E  S P R I N G

                                   Sonnet Number One 

Rejoice with me!  Let your soul sing!

Run, laughing, through Niagara's spray! 

I am in love; My Love is King!

He makes the old new, every day
His Words coax me out of life's brine

Into waterspouts of pleasure 

Like I knew in a simpler time,

Backyard memories I now treasure.

Squirts of hosed water on hot day,

Intake of breath, squeal of delight.

Drenching, trickling, refreshing play,

Making sleep more restful that night.

     LORD, You are so Timeless and True;

     All my springs of joy are in You!