I Must Confess We've Had A LOT of Showers Lately

“April showers bring May flowers.” 

This particular idiom can be traced all the way back to Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales” in the 14^th Century.  And I think that if we search a little more, we’ll find that Chaucer may have gotten inspiration from some other sources.  To be sure, he didn’t copy the words directly.  But he may, just may, have been influenced by the poetic language and ideas in OT scripture among other inspirations.  Looking to the Song of Solomon 2: 10-12 we find that the author writes:

“My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.  The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.’”

Why does this matter you may ask. 

For a couple of reasons.  First because there is no thought that we can conceive that God hasn’t revealed to us first.  Chaucer is acknowledged by scholars all over the world as a literary giant who has been read, studied and taught for what… nearly 700 years.  And yet Old Testament manuscripts predate Chaucer’s work by several millennia.  It’s hard to figure that we, as smart as we may be, will ever think any thought that will catch God by surprise. 

  

Secondly, it matters because in the amount of time that we have had this revelation from God, we have had plenty of time to observe and witness to the truth of their claims.  And while Song of Solomon is generally thought of as a romantic poetry or an example of a passionate union of husband and wife; these verses speak to the newness that love brings after periods of winter like isolation. And that is something that the world sorely needs to remember as we begin to emerge from the metaphorical hibernation of stay at home orders in the weeks and months ahead.

  

During the “rains” of the last 2 months we have been forced to stay still and simultaneously been given a tremendous opportunity to talk to and listen to God for a change.  During the winter of closures and a season when fields (i.e. offices, malls, theaters, etc.) lay fallow, we have been absorbing nutrients without the distractions in our way.  We’re being replenished for new and explosive growth as God begins to grace us with the sunshine again.  He speaks to His beloved, the church, saying, “Arise!” And we who have spent the time learning to love our Savior more will be more than prepared to do just that.

  

Maybe another good springtime metaphor is a cocoon.  We who have been wrapped in the relative safety of our homes as we wait for the world around us to get back to normal are instead being changed by this process.  We had no idea going into this situation that we might emerge from  the wrappings of quarantine with new abilities to love people better, or serve people better, or well, mount up on new wings and fly in His Spirit’s power.  But we’re not altered by our circumstances.  Christ has transformed us to alter how we deal with our circumstances.  He’s given us power to rise above them and to point with hope to the giver of all good things.

  

Whichever metaphor you feel speaks to you, we who are His beloved have been being equipped for new and enlivened service to God and one another.  We’re being called to rise and go forward singing His sweet and glorious song of salvation.  Now that the showers are ending, let’s grow as disciples, grow as His body, and grow into being the beauty that God intends us to be.

Your servant in Christ,

Chris