“Everything in this life passes away…
only God remains,
only He is worth struggling towards.
We have a choice:
to follow the way of this world, of the society that surrounds us,
and thereby find ourselves outside of God;
or
to choose the way of life, to choose God Who calls us and for Whom our heart is searching.”
Seraphim Rose
(Mother’s 35 year old tea rose bush / Julie Cook 2016)
Driving over to Dad’s yesterday morning I spotted a sign outside of a church which read:
Real love has no ending…
I don’t think I’ve ever read a better sign.
By earthly standards we know all too well that there are endings…
For earthly love does indeed seem to end….
It may end sad, maybe even bad…
because there really is no such thing as a happy ending,
by earthly standards…
Because even that happy or enduring sort of love here on Earth,
dies away….
We call that life…
and death….
as in,
there’s a beginning…
and there’s…
the end….
But here’s the thing…love that reaches beyond the boundaries of this earth…
well, that is both happy and never ending…
We call that, perfect Love….
See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Isaac Watts,
Stanzas 3 and 4 When I Survey The Wondrous Cross , 1707
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