Enlightened Romance

Have you ever stopped and thought about what real romance is?  Years ago, I spent too much time reading romance novels.  From the time I was a young girl I read various novels putting one down to find myself empty and picking up the next to refill the void.  When the Lord came and claimed me for His own He also impressed upon me to stop reading these novels.  I have to admit that it was hard going.  But He gave me the strength to do it and He also gave me something to occupy my time.  The Bible.  At this time in my life I was very ignorant of God's Word.  I had no idea that it was THE most romantic book on the face of the earth!  I'm not talking Samson and Delia, which to me seems more like two people who have some serious issues.  Certainly, not David and Bathsheba we won't go there.  I am talking about the stories like we read in John 20.  One of my favorite stories in the Bible.  The story of Mary's broken heart and eternal fulfillment. 

Early in the morning we find Mary going to the Tomb of Jesus to discover the stone removed.  I picture it as a highly emotional event.  She had likely cried for days and this morning her tears were spent.  She walks closer, her heart starts to pound, thoughts flood her mind, she turns and runs for help.  When she meets Peter she quickly tells him what has happened.  Peter is definately known to be a very emotional man.  We never read that he tried to clam her like someone with less zeal might have done.  He just took off running as fast as he could go.  He came to the same conclusion, the stone was gone and so was the body.  With nothing left he went home to soak it all in but Mary, she stayed.  And there she stood crying as she gave one last glaze into the tomb.  She must have been shocked to see the two angels. They questioned her tears and she responded that her Lord had been taken (I am ready to cry at this point!) and she did not know where He had been taken to.  At this she turned, (hold your hats girls, this is the good stuff!) and saw a man (not knowing it was Jesus she thought he was the gardner) he asked who she was looking for.  She replied heart broken and desperate, as tears formed and rolled off her cheeks.  Tears she thought were gone after days of heart wrenching sobs.  "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary.”  Can't you just hear His soft, tender voice, the voice of Love itself!!  Then she got it, she recognized Him.  She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).  WOW!  To me these few little words are more romantic than the books I used to read front to back!  "Mary!"  "Rabboni!"  My spirit wells inside me when I read it.  It had to be this same voice, this same Love that called me.  The same call during a time of broken desperate sobs.  Oh, to be sure, God Loves us.  God Himself is Love, He is the author of true romance, the kind that fulls your heart forever, not temporarily.  True love that will last throughout eternity.  The Love our Creator has for us should make our hearts sing.  We should be hungry for Him.  We are hungry for Him, sometimes we just get our fill in other places.  But I am hear to tell you, there is nothing in this world that can fulfill every part of your being like God can.  It is truly what we are made for.  As you read this I pray that you are enlightened to true romance and

[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!