god's-bud-is-bursting

Good morning…

The image filling my mind has three parts: a single red rose bud in a simple vase, a clean kitchen counter, and an under cabinet beam of accent light. Today I wake late following an annual Christmas gathering with the vision of a rose resting on the counter, basking in warmth of cozy kitchen light. As I laid in my bed groggily praying, I wondered to myself, “What does this image mean?” What would this image mean to you, my friend?

Calm after crazy. A little follows a lot. Savoring stillness after magical mayhem. The red of the rose symbolizes love, passion, God’s higher way of being. The simple glass vase offers a transparent, nourishing space to gradually opening full bloom. The single spotlight glowing from above whispers wordlessly, “A brand new form of My budding love is to take center stage in your life.”

I am drawn like a magnet to Isaiah 42:5-9 in the Message translation, which bears the heading in my Bible: The God Who Makes Us Alive with His Own Life.

Here is God’s Message,
    the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,
    laid out the earth and all that grows from it,
Who breathes life into earth’s people,
    makes them alive with his own life:
“I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
    I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
    and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
    opening blind eyes,
    releasing prisoners from dungeons,
    emptying the dark prisons.
I am God. That’s my name.
    I don’t franchise my glory,
    don’t endorse the no-god idols.
Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled.
    I’m announcing the new salvation work.
Before it bursts on the scene,
    I’m telling you all about it.”