[for6months]

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.
    Leave Lebanon behind, and come.
Leave your high mountain hideaway.
    Abandon your wilderness seclusion,
Where you keep company with lions
    and panthers guard your safety.
You’ve captured my heart, dear friend.
    You looked at me, and I fell in love.
    One look my way and I was hopelessly in love!
How beautiful your love, dear, dear friend—
    far more pleasing than a fine, rare wine,
    your fragrance more exotic than select spices.
The kisses of your lips are honey, my love,
    every syllable you speak a delicacy to savor.
Your clothes smell like the wild outdoors,
    the ozone scent of high mountains.
Dear lover and friend, you’re a secret garden,
    a private and pure fountain.
Body and soul, you are paradise,
    a whole orchard of succulent fruits—
Ripe apricots and peaches,
    oranges and pears;
Nut trees and cinnamon,
    and all scented woods;
Mint and lavender,
    and all herbs aromatic;
A garden fountain, sparkling and splashing,
    fed by spring waters from the Lebanon mountains.

The Message (MSG)

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

[Who is woman?]

Part I: In the Beginning...

Genesis 2:22-25

The Message (MSG)

^21-22 God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.

^23-25     The Man said,
“Finally! Bone of my bone,
    flesh of my flesh!
Name her Woman
    for she was made from Man.”
    Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.
    The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.

Genesis 3:1-16

The Message (MSG)

3 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”

^2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’”
^4-5 The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”
⁶ When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.
⁷ Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.
⁸ When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.
⁹ God called to the Man: “Where are you?”
¹⁰ He said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.”
¹¹ God said, “Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?”
¹² The Man said, “The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it.”
God said to the Woman, “What is this that you’ve done?”
¹³ “The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.”

^14-15 God told the serpent:

“Because you’ve done this, you’re cursed,
    cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals,
Cursed to slink on your belly
    and eat dirt all your life.
I’m declaring war between you and the Woman,
    between your offspring and hers.
He’ll wound your head,
    you’ll wound his heel.”

¹⁶ He told the Woman:

“I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth;
    you’ll give birth to your babies in pain.
You’ll want to please your husband,
    but he’ll lord it over you.”

Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

[nordsjö]

you challenged me to leave the cave
by opening the gates of love
letting the light and unceasing fire in/

waterfalls

darkness has no change on the face of
pursuit of two
when warriors meet/

deciding to stand together
forgiveness as revenge
reward is future redeemed/

i tie the robes of hope
as a dress around myself
wear my crown of peace
pearls of pain, owned polished,
and
salvation,
clothed in white as snow

[best things in life are...not free]

...for they are gifts.

1) boyfriend
2) best friend (especially, when they are one and same person as above)
3) dinner with/by boyfriend
4) prayer
5) dreams
6) friends with whom to have crazy chats
7) sisters
8) ideas to paint and photograph things people and places
9) good and inspiring stories
10) giggling
11) rucola and red grapes, mango, and other fresh fruit
12) sunshine

#twelvethingstobethankfulfor

[previously]

grace/
love that takes the stones,
you were throwing at yourself/
and kisses your hands clean/
grace.

[roadblocks]

i don't yet know
another response
to
deal
with
when i know what i bring
is hurting to those i love most
than to hate myself
teach me, to forgive,
forgive myself,
when hatred burns the insides,
unworthiness beats,
rejection slaps on the face,
loneliness calls,
come,
to the rescue,
save.

[selah]

[I am not with you to get somewhere

I am not with you to get something

I want to be with you

to see where we can go together,

to see how much we can learn to receive,

to be a blessing and a gift for each other,

and to the world around us.

Common ground, higher ground,

our eyes fixed on the things from Above.]