I Am Sick With Love — O, Beloved!

I am sick with love.

– Song of Solomon 5:8

Beloved? (said ever so gently)

Are you sick with love?

Aye. I thought so.

Oh! But, ‘tis a good thing!

Come now, listen, O fainting heart.

Consider with me, something Together, please.

Love, here and now, it…is deferred. Not entirely, but in many ways, it is, verily so.

I’m guessing (said tenderly), I don’t need to hash out, drag out, or parade all of the ways in which love is inhibited now. No.

If you’re like me, and you are - I know, you have no difficulty recounting such things.

However, I’d like to bring something to your attention, if I may. Please?

O, child! Do you remember pleading with your mother for a snack right before dinner time? Do you remember what she said? She said: “Beloved child of mine, you must wait, otherwise your appetite will be spoiled!”

Aye, yes. Now we recall, do we not?

She was right, of course. You were hungry. Aye, perhaps, even famished! - or so it seemed, at the time. You would have been satisfied, I reckon, with even a little teeny tiny bite of something…or would you have? That’s what you told yourself, anyway.

But, when dinner-time came, when the fullness of time - according to your wise mother - had finally dawned; when all the preparations had been accomplished; when the best of food, for your nourishment and well-being, had been procured; it was Time to eat.

Together, we know, what it’s like to have a spoiled appetite. (sigh) We may have the choicest of food before us, our favorite delicacies, the best of the best, and yet…without a necessary appetite, they are no help to us. Worse! they are repulsive. Yes? We cannot even bear the thought of eating them with a full stomach. It would cause us physical pain. Indeed. They are no good, not then.

But! O, beloved…(said with fervor)

When we are hungry! When we are starving; when we are famished…! Then, O beloved! THEN, our satisfaction is beyond repletion!

My mind…my heart…my words…lack proper articulation to disclose such things, but I’m trying; trying with desperation to help our dim-witted hearts see the benefit, the goodness, the joy in waiting. Waiting for the fullness of Love, in Time.

Love, here and now, it’s broken, beloved. It’s…flawed, inadequate, incomplete. We see little tiny glimpses of its beauty: Beauty Himself. But then…it quickly vanishes. It dissipates, I believe, so that our appetites can be roused, kindled, induced.

We, at times, think we want a snack. We, sometimes, wish to grasp after that which is within reach. We, contemplate, we ponder, we convince ourselves that our way is best. But…(sigh), O, child!

We know so very little. We need to trust Him: the one called Love, just like we trusted our mothers. He delights to give good things to those who ask!

So, ask, beloved.

Then, wait.

Wait with open arms, expectantly, cheerfully, eagerly, with the most prodigious, voracious, ravenous, appetite possible!

Are you sick with love, beloved? I know you are.

Good. Then you’re well on your way to being satisfied, some Day, in the fullness of Time.

Don’t spoil your appetite, O, child.

Wait patiently - gladly!