These are pictures from Manali. The one is of me and a lady who lives in the village there. We were on a walk and enjoying the beautiful flowers and mountains. She came out and started talking to us and said that it would be good if we would take some pictures in the yellow flowers there. It was lovely.
While we were out walking we saw so many beautiful things and people. The cherry blossoms were just budding on the trees. The whole scene reminded me of some of the verses that we had read at our wedding ceremony last June:
"My beloved spoke and said to me: Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, 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. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!"
I love these verses because they remind me of the love and grace of God. It's a picture of His heart toward us in any season. He is always calling us on to choose life and to arise from our complacency and apathy. He delights in us and calls us to forget what is behind and to press on toward what is ahead. Our pain and sin truly is captured in the idea of winter with it's bleakness and barreness, and He calls us onward into joy, righteousness, and beauty with Him, regardless of the time or season.
The choices that we have to make daily are glorious. We can choose to love and forgive and to give of ourselves to those around us. Daily, over our lives, He says "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!" He desires our love and affection, and His mercy and compassion are new every morning. I love that about Him. No matter what we have done or how far we have gone, He is calling us to arise and choose His love and grace. He casts our sins into the sea of forgetfulness, and beckons us to draw near. The time of singing has come.
"This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I hope in Him." Lam. 3:21-24
