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Blood sugar FALLING INTO THE 60s ALL MORNING???
Grocery Shopping rush
"Last second God"
Teasing Xander about Christmas decor
"You can be a happy deer too"
Turned into a rather deep talk about the Incarnation
Honestly I really need to talk to him more. He has been surprisingly dedicated to his redemption since last December, when, while folding laundry that one morning, I was suddenly & inexplicably slammed by an onslaught of vivid heartspace scenes chronicling the very inception of that conversion in him. But he's always so genuine about it. Like... when it first hit, it stuck, and deeply so. There hasn't been any wavering on his part, and I admire that immensely. But he's still so new to "being good" regardless; he still has so much to learn and be enriched by, and he wants to know and do more. I think that's a solemn responsibility on my shoulders, especially if I'm actually in the Jewel bloodline? Jewels are responsible for the whole Outspacer transition process, really, as Jewels are the direct & living Links from outside worlds to hers/ours. I wonder if the "string theory" is still legit? I'll have to look into that. But in any case, concerning the "moving in" process, if a Jewel doesn't spearhead that effort, it will fail. Jewels are anchors, and without them personally and particularly helping an Outspacer in whatever way they personally need, they won't be able to hold on to anything else. That sounds very dramatic, but it's true. And, for Xander, a huge part of his immigration, as it were, is that religious education aspect, because that's the core of where he comes from, AND where he's growing into.
So yeah, if anything's gonna make this deer a happy deer, it's that. 'Tis the season after all!
Window exhaust disaster = we left it open while we were out and, just our luck, they decided to run a LEAFBLOWER under our window and it got that awful smell all through our apartment.
Our immediate reaction was "welp, gotta deal," and we just opened the door and turned on our mini air filter & set up the tower fans and that was it. No panic, no freaking out, even when we realized that the window had also let in a TON of leaf litter all over our table, chair, and blankets. Nope, we just grabbed soap and towels and cleaned everything up. "Calm cleaning in a crisis". Honestly it surprises me, looking back-- it shows that our "natural response," outside of family contexts, is NOT to unravel but to face the situation squarely and get things done. So that's very reassuring, actually, as to the kind of person we hopefully actually are, because we want to be such a person: sober & reliable to help restore peace & order when things get tough.
Mimic FRONTING briefly to simply cut carrots
I miss him SO MUCH, dude where have you been?
In any case, it was just... so sweet, for him to literally just show up to do a mundane domestic task, and to do so with genuine contentment. Like his "presence" in memory is quietly, simply at peace, if only a touch sad, but notably marked as because he had never been trusted OR safe enough TO do anything as preciously small like this before. I have NEVER felt anything like that in or from him until today.
...I think he still has that deep fear of being unwanted and unseen though. So I have a duty, as someone who genuinely loves him, to make sure he knows that he IS wanted and seen and treasured and valued in our life. That has to be demonstrated tangibly. Words won't prove it at all, not on their own. He needs to be actively invited in and involved in our life, just as he is, with no agenda or assigned roles. He just needs the open embracing space to simply be with us. God knows that's what I value most, too, when it comes down to it... the best moments of my days now are just when I'm existing with Chaos or Laurie or Genesis. We're not "trying" to accomplish anything. Maybe all I'm doing is sitting with them in silence, just being in each others' presence, just cherishing that closeness, that reality. That's what sticks with me the most. Mimic deserves to have that, too.
BENADRYL ALLERGY?????
It's actually making our throat and nose close up??? That's the OPPOSITE of what you're supposed to do bro
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https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Lamentations%201&version=NET
Picking up where we left off last night =
"An enemy grabbed all her treasures" = Heb “all her desirable things.” The noun (makhmad, “desirable thing”) refers to valuable possessions, such as gold and silver, that people desire. This probably refers, not to the valuable possessions of Jerusalem in general, but to the sacred objects in the Temple in particular, as suggested by the rest of the verse.
For the anthropomorphic image compare Song 5:16.
("His mouth is most sweet. He is absolutely desirable. This is my love, and this is my friend, young women of Jerusalem.")
[DETOURING TO THIS VERSE BECAUSE WOW WHAT????]
https://biblehub.com/songs/5-16.htm
"His mouth is sweet in every way. His mouth is full of sweetness... His mouth is sweetness itself... His mouth IS sweetness."
"His kisses are sweet... His mouth is sweet to kiss... His mouth is like sweet honeycombs."
("Mouth" is also translated as "throat," "palate," and "SPEECH.")
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2441.htm
chek: mouth, taste, lips; (properly) the palate or inside of the mouth, (hence) the mouth itself (as the organ of speech, taste and kissing)
Chek most commonly denotes the palate or roof of the mouth, yet Scripture extends the term to cover the inner surfaces of the mouth, the organ of taste, and, by metonymy, speech itself. In each setting the word touches on sensory discernment— what is ingested, savored, rejected, or uttered.
[I really need to meditate on those four terms in the sense of discernment, especially in the direct and awful light of the eating disorder.]
Discernment of Speech and Truth: Job repeatedly employs chek to portray the testing of words: “Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?” ...Here the mouth’s ability to distinguish flavors pictures the believer’s responsibility to weigh counsel, doctrine, and circumstance with spiritual discrimination.
Ministry application: teachers and hearers alike must cultivate a refined [spiritual] “palate” that quickly detects error and delights in sound doctrine.
[This means we have to DISCERN PROPER SPIRITUAL "TASTE." In truth, error should taste bitter & sour to us, whereas Truth should taste sweet & smooth. The "problem" is when sin "sugarcoats" itself, and when goodness has a bite to it. In such cases, we NEED to be "spiritual supertasters" able to pick out the most subtle "tells" of the underlying substance– the sweetness of wholesome fruit is inherently different from that of processed pastry, and the sweetness of antifreeze is another thing entirely. And yet, to an immature soul-palate that has no proper knowledge or depth of wisdom, they all just taste "sweet." WE MUST BE ABLE TO KEENLY DIFFERENTIATE, without poisoning ourselves in the process, and the only way to do that is to know VERY WELL what GOODNESS "tastes like," to the point where the "artificial", "rotten", "unripe", "inedible", and "toxic" flavors of untruth, of sin & error, are glaringly apparent in contrast. The second essential warning = notice I initially used the word "should." Sin has already perverted our palate. Some of us actually enjoy the "taste" of the spiritual equivalent of chemically jacked-up, plastic-wrapped, mass-produced dessert cakes or snack chips. Maybe we've become addicted to the sugar, to the fat, to the additives, and "weaning off" is excruciating. That, or we've lived so long on "rotten, spoiled, moldy" spiritual food that THOSE tastes are our "normal." Perhaps, whenever someone promised to feed us with "fruit", it was full of worms. Perhaps we've only been eating "unripe" fruit, bitter and hard. And ultimately, maybe we're so spiritually poor due to sin that such "foods" are "all we can afford," not realizing that God's grace is of infinite worth and HE will feed us with the "finest wheat" and "honey from the rock" IF we only GO TO HIM ALONE for sustenance. The point is, there are MANY potential obstacles & complications to "cultivating our palate" morally. The good news is, we have the Good News. There is no other way to "refine" our palate without reWIRING it by eating well, without being re-oriented to and deeply familiarized with healthy and wholesome foods, without practicing mindful eating and attentive sensory observation. And, above all, we need to have a TRUSTWORTHY, BENEVOLENT, RELIABLE SOURCE OF NOURISHMENT, Who will ENSURE that ALL our food IS good and healthsome and clean and delightful. And, we must LEARN FROM HIM. We need to GAIN the VOCABULARY TO DISCERN & DESCRIBE what it is we're tasting. We CANNOT do this alone! The refinement of the soul-palate is a SKILL, an ART FORM as much as a key survival tool. Hence the word "cultivate." It takes great time, effort, dedication, study, attention, care, and sacrifice. But it is absolutely worth it, because this is a literally life-saving ability. We MUST learn to taste well, and to taste accurately, just as much as we NEED to LEARN the proper tastes THROUGH EATING "GOOD FRUIT", thereby learning by experience to recognize and savor those virtuous flavors. Then, at last, we will be ABLE to, and NEED to, REFUSE to swallow ANYTHING that doesn't have the mellifluous taste of God's Truth in it.]
Sweetness of God’s Word: Psalm 119:103 elevates the term: “How sweet are Your Words to my taste— sweeter than honey in my mouth!” The psalmist’s comparison presents Scripture as nourishment surpassing the choicest delicacies.
Proverbs likewise invites the believer to receive wisdom with delight: “My son, eat honey [wisdom], for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate” (Proverbs 24:13).
[I LOVE the imagery of EATING Wisdom, like Jeremiah and the scroll. Note that it is RECEIVED, like "finding" the comb in the wild– we do not control or produce this sweetness. It is purely natural, powerful, unique among flavors. It cannot be abused or it WILL punish us (see Proverbs 25:16 & 25:27). Honey must be SOUGHT by a soul unafraid to go into the wilderness for it. Although we are aware of its most usual possible places, it always appears to us unexpectedly, always new by its nature. Once revealed, we must eat it then or lose it– a traveler has no means to remove or transport it without mess or harm (bees!). Wisdom gives herself when & where she wills, to those with good palates who therefore desire and seek her sweetness, and we must EAT what she gives as it is given– we must receive it with grateful hearts, hungry and joyful, humble lovers of good. And remember, don't be greedy. Don't be gluttonous. That betrays a corrupt palate, unable to treasure taste as God intended: for the sake of indicating a proper source of nourishment. Wisdom will not stay in a stuffed stomach, just as a luxurious palate will not appreciate her even as it gorges on honey. They do not delight, they only devour, and that with lust. They do not seek nourishment, only entertainment. THAT is the picture of a soul that despises Scripture. A soul with a diet of secular junk-words will never be wise or happy or satisfied. But even they are not hopeless– their insatiable craving for pleasant flavors– never satiated despite their excessive consumption and chasing of novelty– is but a tragic sin-perversion of an innate and good appetite: the desire and recognition and need of GOD as the TRUE, DEFINITIVE, ULTIMATE sweetness and nourishment, the SOURCE of all goodness and all righteous pleasures in the universe. Deep down, we ALL are truly and really hungering for Him... and therefore, we ALL have the capacity to perceive and identify that holy flavor, even if we have so far only sought it in echoes or derivatives. But this means that, when those spiritually disordered eaters DO get a taste of His Truth, their very soul REALIZES it as something true, even unconsciously, and in time they CAN be gently but persistently redirected & healed through continued exposure to Scripture TO desire God AS God and above all else. THAT'S the powerful sweetness of the Good News of Christ, the True and Perfect Bread!]
Preachers and disciplers may draw from these images when exhorting believers to daily intake of the Word, not from duty alone but from [holy] desire awakened by its sweetness.
[TAKE NOTE OF THAT. IT IS NOT A SIN TO DESIRE THE SWEETNESS OF GOD JUST BECAUSE IT IS SWEET, AND BECAUSE IT IS DESIRE.]
Warnings against Deceptive Flattery: The seductive voice of folly is described with the same organ. “For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil” (Proverbs 5:3). What tastes pleasant at first proves deadly.
[HENCE THE NECESSITY OF A REFINED SPIRITUAL PALATE. We need to be able to discern the poison concealed beneath all that sugar & fat. How so? Honeycomb tastes different than bottled stuff. No adulteress has access to the real thing. Her lips may indeed be "sweet," but to a palate that knows God through familiarity and focus, that alien "sweetness" will EVIDENTLY register as untrue and utterly distasteful. The instant such a Scripture-cultivated soul gets the slightest "taste" of her words, they will know it is a fallacy– all corn syrup and canola, an artificial facsimile of God's actual goods– and you must REFUSE to ingest ANY of it. TURN AROUND AND RUN.]
Proverbs 8:7, in contrast, assigns righteous speech to Lady Wisdom: “For my mouth speaks Truth, and wickedness is detestable to my lips.”
The palate motif underscores that every believer’s speech feeds others; it WILL either nourish or poison.
Scenes of Intimacy and Delight: Song of Songs develops cheq in poetic celebration of marital love:
• “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved… his fruit is sweet to my taste” (Song of Songs 2:3).
• “His mouth is most sweet; he is altogether lovely” (Song of Songs 5:16).
• “And your mouth like the best wine. May it go down smoothly for my beloved, gliding gently over lips and teeth” (Song of Songs 7:9).
Here the palate becomes an emblem of delight, satisfaction, and covenant intimacy—imagery often echoed in preaching on Christ’s love for His Church.
[TREE = THE CROSS; MOUTH = HIS WORD; FRUIT = GRACE???]
[I cannot comment fully on this right now. It requires too much time & depth, AND a much deeper dive into that particular Book.]
[The point that stands out to me about these uses of "cheq" = the thing "tasted" is not an abstract concept but a PERSON??? There is a VERY EUCHARISTIC VIBE to this, as things that are tasted are FOODS, therefore MEANT TO BE EATEN. Placed in the context of covenant intimacy, it implies that within a covenant, souls mutually give themselves as nourishment to each other?? It reflects MOTHERHOOD, the only time when a human literally becomes food for another human, for pure love, for sustaining a fragile and precious life that would otherwise die. And yet... in covenant, in this Song, the giving is MORE than motherhood– it is shockingly greater, somehow? Because here, as I said, the giving is MUTUAL, it is FREELY GIVEN, and it sustains the SOUL.]
[I want to ponder further on the simple yet profound depth of the word "cheq" itself here– the shocking intimacy OF a mouth, OF the very experience of taste, especially in its ultimate fulfillment of function in eating and drinking. We do not really taste anything unless we are planning or attempting to ingest it, to "take it into ourselves" and effectively "become one with it" in a strikingly literal manner– we ARE what we eat, our very bodies building themselves from food, highlighting the absolute necessity of discerning & eating only good things. So... this truth adds a staggering amount of extra weight to covenant intimacy as expressed BY "cheq". A covenant relationship in these terms is UNITIVE by nature, and INEXTRICABLY so.]
["Covenant" absolutely and inherently includes marriage. But now is not the time to ponder that. That must wait for the laptop.]
[OH BY THE WAY, REMEMBER "HIS DARK MATERIALS" AND HOW THAT CERTAIN "FRUIT" SCENE CHANGED YOUR LIFE.]
Dryness, Silence, and Judgment: Where sweetness and speech mark blessing, loss of [the mouth's] function signals distress.
Lamentations 4:4 laments the siege of Jerusalem: “The tongue of the infant clings to the roof of its mouth for thirst.”
Ezekiel experiences imposed silence as prophetic sign: “I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be mute”.
[The "sticking/ clinging" strikes me as noteworthy; look into that term more. The immediate impression is that the action of doing so "closes the mouth from the inside"; you can neither speak NOR eat in that position.]
Ministry insight: spiritual drought and restrained proclamation are evidences of divine displeasure; conversely, free, life-giving speech accompanies blessing.
[GOD "RESTRAINS OUR PROCLAMATION" OF THE GOSPEL ITSELF (!!!) WHEN WE DISPLEASE HIM BY (EVEN UNKNOWINGLY) UTTERING FALSE TEACHING/ HAVING HERETICAL TENDENCIES/ A SCANDALOUS LIFESTYLE THAT UNDERMINES WITNESS/ CORRUPT UNDERSTANDING OF DOCTRINE/ PREACHING WITH OUTRIGHT HYPOCRISY/ ETC.!!!]
(Back to original verse reference)
https://biblehub.com/songs/5-16.htm
"He is delightful and desirable in every way... He is absolutely, totally, wholly desirable... He is altogether lovely... He is all loveliness."
"Everything about him enchants me... I desire him so much!"
[Read all this in light of the referring verse use of the word "desirable"– the speaker here, the holy bride, has ALL her treasure in her bridegroom, who is all she desires. This stands in stark contrast to pagan plunderers who "treasure" the temple gold solely because it is gold. The bride treasures the temple of her beloved's body (a type of CHRIST) more than all the gold on earth. But this is NOT the idolatry of sensuality and lust. No, this couple is HOLY, united in marriage as a covenant made in God's sight and FOR God's honor, and their love for each other does not lessen or replace or outweigh their love for their Creator. Instead, their marital love flows FROM their love for God, Who is the ultimate treasure and desire of them BOTH. And THAT truth is HOW & WHY they CAN see and treasure and sing of such beauty & sweetness in each other, both physical and spiritual– they recognize those virtues as being gifts FROM and reflections OF GOD. Their adoration and admiration of each other is only possible because it is ultimately recognizing and honoring echoes of the One Who is the Source of it all. In ALL human relationships, and ESPECIALLY in marriage, there MUST be that "transcendent third" for true love to exist there at all, let alone take root and flourish. If the two are only focused on each other as mutually satisfying selfish desires, being "in love" solely because it "makes them happy," the relationship WILL soon fail, in conflict or in collapse, because it has no higher end or purpose. There NEEDS to be a SELFLESS & SPIRITUAL "TELOS", a reason for entering into unity and committing to preserving it at all costs, that transcends proud ego and shallow self-interest. The only possible reason is God. God is Love, God is Eternal, God is Good, God is Life, God is True and Just and Merciful and Righteous... and God has committed Himself to ALL MANKIND in a Covenant of infinite Love that can never end or be broken. THAT Truth is both what and why we humans enter into covenants with each other. We seek the highest good of another soul in a special and intimate way, devoting ourself to that purpose completely, sharing our life with them for the sake of enriching their life with God's love through us, and all of this with the aim of leading them to salvation in the next life– which is NOT our work, but God's, and yet everything we do in obedient loving harmony with God's will DOES serve that end for both ourselves and those around us. Marriage is just the hyperfocus of this: the exclusive devotion to one particular soul for the sake of bringing each other closer to God... AND bringing new life into the world through the grace and gift of God for the sake of building up Christ's Church/Body. That's ESSENTIAL to marriage, BECAUSE it is a solemn covenant AND a Sacrament, and as it reflects God's Love for us it MUST be "open to Life" and MUST be anchored in "self-sacrificial love". But I'm rambling. The point i was trying to make all along is = the bride here is in our place. The bridegroom is in Christ's place. She desires Him because she cannot help BUT desire Him; He IS sweetness and goodness and loveliness IN AND OF HIMSELF. He is "wholly desirable" and this is a HOLY DESIRE. She treasures and cherishes and adores Him, she enjoys and delights and rejoices in His Person, and she has every good reason to; it would be appalling for her NOT to feel this way about her Beloved. But most importantly, innate in the word "desire", especially maritally, is the implication of unification. Like the "cheq" that discerns & appreciates sweetness as playing a part of the greater purpose of nourishment, the desire of the bride does NOT end at mere sensual pleasure, at what could easily become purely selfish gratification, treating Him almost as a trophy or artwork. No. Her desire is the same as what makes one desire proper food, as the Eucharist testifies– it is the desire for unity. It is the desire to receive the beloved into one's bosom, for the sake of giving your bosom TO them, as it were. It is the desire to become one with that beautiful beloved, NOT to "consume" them and "take" their beauty for yourself, but to "merge" with them as a beautiful person, as an individual most precious to you, whose beauty you ONLY recognize and cherish BECAUSE it is THEIRS from GOD. There is no envy, no lust, no greed, no ego, no selfish want. There is only pure love for what is purely lovable, the joy of sharing that love as persons, and the very Heart of God enabling and encompassing it all, revealing those tender depths of Himself to us through the depths of each other. The bride would never desire the goodness of her bridegroom if she did not first desire those very good things in God Himself. She would never recognize sweetness in him if she did not already know what sweetness was from God. Do you see? And yet, when she loves and desires her husband, she is not "using him as a stepstool to get to God." She is bringing him with her to God, as his own person, just as totally and uniquely loved BY God as she is. She "desires" her husband because, in reflecting qualities of the LORD, he IS rightly desirable– again, for her TO recognize and treasure those qualities of his is "proof" that she knows them TO be treasures because they are OF God. For her to NOT see sweetness or goodness in him, would mean that she did NOT know God truly, or love her husband truly, for love opens the eyes to the truth. Her "desirable things" in this world WERE indeed the "gold and silver of the temple"– the "objects of worship" devoted to the LORD, those holy vessels made for His service. Is that not what we are called to be? Is
it therefore not right and good for the bride to recognize her holy husband as such a vessel, as being to her such a means of praising God for His reflection in her beloved, as being spiritually "made of gold and silver" in his gifts of virtue and therefore properly admirable in his own person too, to the glory of God Who made him so? She treasures that "gold" not merely because it is gold, as an adulteress would, but because it is sanctified gold, devoted gold, shaped and purposed to serve the LORD and therefore priceless and worth protecting. Why then does she desire it? It is so that she can worship the LORD with it. But, again, it is not a selfish desire, nor an objectifying perspective. She knows her husband is gold, and she thanks God for that, even as she rejoices in the fact that "he is MY beloved... and my FRIEND." This is not utilitarianism. This is a marriage. This is a covenant relationship, and that means MUTUAL benefit as well as love. Yes, he "belongs to her," but ONLY because SHE "belongs to HIM" in return. So, for him to be her treasure, for him to be "all-desirable" in her eyes, means that she effectively has a duty of love to be the same for him. SHE must seek the grace of God to become gold as well, to become her bridegroom's treasure, to become in her own holy and virtuous body a vessel of the Temple of God, so that everything she does is worship, and so too with her husband, so that their marriage becomes a mutually selfless Sacrament of self-giving love, a mirror of Christ to each other, for God and through God, in transcendent unity and sanctified life.
I can't type any more about this, my brain is melting. I hope at least some of that made sense, and I pray that all of it spoke truly and honored God, the Beloved of all the cosmos.]
[...in any case, you need to talk with Infinitii on this topic. zhe will have clarity and insight that you don't.]
His mouth is most sweet = This phrase highlights the intimate and affectionate nature of the relationship between the bride and the bridegroom.
[PAUSE FOR A MOMENT and really let it hit home that GOD WANTS THIS FOR US. He wants us to be INTIMATE with Him, and AFFECTIONATE with Him... because HE "FEELS" THAT WAY TOWARDS US. Do you realize that? God has affection for you. He WANTS to be close to you– not merely present to, not merely close to, not merely with you, but intimate with you. To put it almost scandalously: God wants to cuddle up next to you at night. God wants to kiss the teardrops away from your eyelashes and lips. God wants to cook breakfast for you and buy you flowers "just because" and leave little love poems on the bathroom mirror. That's how "affection" feels. It's warm and soft and so tender and so true. It is a fierce fondness for your very existence, a quiet blaze of joy that makes God smile from ear to ear whenever He so much as glimpses you across the room. Does that make sense? And yes, God is STILL terrible and powerful and the Almighty Judge of All Things. That does not change. But He is also affectionate towards you, all the time. That's the "NATURE" of the relationship, which is a Covenant, remember– eternal, personal, solemn, sincere. You belong to each other forever, completely, and the very ESSENCE of this binding relationship is INTIMATE AFFECTION. This is actually WHY there are Covenant curses for acts of breach & treachery– effectively adultery!! To forsake or abuse THAT kind of purehearted unity of persons DESERVES such punishment and indeed IS its own punishment– if you leave Love, what the heck else is there for you? But Love never breaks Covenant. He will justly let you suffer the consequences you bound yourself to, but His Heart will still ache for you and He WILL bring you back to Himself when your chastisement is complete, because that's Who He IS. He is the God OF Covenant. He CANNOT forsake you forever. He will ALWAYS draw you back into His bosom, into intimacy and affection, into the sweetness of eternal relationship with the Bridegroom of your soul.]
In the context of the Song of Solomon, the mouth symbolizes communication and the sharing of love and wisdom.
[THE TWO GO TOGETHER!!! "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, AND knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." To KNOW God is to LOVE God because GOD IS LOVE. To understand THAT makes our Wisdom "perfect"– we cannot fear God in a holy way UNLESS we love Him, and we cannot love Him in truth unless we KNOW Him... that's why He reveals Himself to us in His Words and Works. God COMMUNICATES with us so we CAN love Him AND fear Him. Let me put it more simply: does a wife "fear" her husband if he is loving and honorable and tender with her? Not in the way we humans normally define fear– she would only fear an abusive husband in such a way. "Fear" is, in that sense, a natural response to the real threat of danger and harm. HOWEVER, what sort of "fear" would a loving and true husband elicit in his beloved wife, especially as symbolically applied to our relationship with God? Only the "fear" of offending Him– NOT merely the "servile fear" of punishment for such an offense, although God DOES have the Authority and Power TO do so, and JUSTLY, especially since ALL our sins basically count as covenant breach, i.e. ADULTERY– but we, the bride, the wife, "fear" offending God BECAUSE we LOVE Him, and the very thought of doing something to hurt Him fills our hearts with terrible dread! We don't want to go to hell because we don't EVER want to reject God, and we NEVER want to be separated from Him. THAT'S the "fear of the LORD." It's the RESULT OF LOVE, and THAT is real Wisdom– and Wisdom is Christ.]
The sweetness of the mouth can be seen as a metaphor for the words and promises of the bridegroom, which are pleasing and desirable.
[NOTE THIS AGAIN. IT IS RIGHT AND GOOD TO WANT AND LIKE WHAT GOD PROMISES TO HIS FAITHFUL PEOPLE. YOU'RE ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO DESIRE THEM!!! IT IS NOT A SIN TO CHERISH "THE SWEETNESS OF HIS MOUTH," JUST BECAUSE IT IS SWEET, AND BECAUSE IT IS HIS MOUTH!!! YOU HAVE WAY TOO MANY CROSSED WIRES AND TWISTED DEFINITIONS. FIX THEM ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE OR YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO BE GOD'S BRIDE IN TRUTH.]
In a broader biblical context, this can be compared to the Words of Christ, which are described as sweet and life-giving (Psalm 119:103).
(Okay but that Psalm verse has some LOVELY translations=
"How sweet to my tongue is your promise, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"
"How sweet the taste of your promise is! It tastes sweeter than honey."
"How pleasing is what you have to say to me— tasting better than honey!"
"How sweet are Your words to my taste— sweeter than honey in my mouth!"
"Your words are sweeter in my mouth than honey!"
"Your teachings are sweeter than honey!"
"How sweet is the taste of your instructions!"
"How smooth were thy words to my palate!"
"How sweet is your eloquence!"
"How sweet are thine oracles to my throat!"
"Your words are sweet to the roof of my palate, better than honey to my mouth!")
The sweetness also reflects the deep emotional and spiritual connection between the lovers, emphasizing the importance of communication in relationships.
[NONVERBAL, too. My relationship with Chaos 0 has proven to me very very clearly that emotional and spiritual communication is, arguably, even more important than mere words. If you love someone that deeply, you will speak to them with your heart and soul as well as with your mouth and eyes and hands. Your whole life will be a conversation, a communion... a song you sing together, really.]
he is altogether lovely = This phrase underscores the complete and perfect nature of the bridegroom.
[Also implying = to be a "bridegroom" in its truest essence requires this?? This speaks volumes of Christ– because He IS complete & perfect by nature, His marital unity with us is totally "selfless" in motive, being entirely generous & giving, because He needs nothing from us to be "whole". His relationship with us has nothing to do with "gain" or "profit" or "benefit" as it were. Rather, it is an expression of unfathomably pure and gracious love. The perfect Bridegroom freely & willingly shares HIS wholeness WITH us by UNITING Himself with us, making US "complete and perfect" at last IN HIM. And He REJOICES in this!]
The term "altogether lovely" suggests that every aspect of his being is admirable and desirable.
[NO EXCEPTIONS. If you KNOW the Bridegroom in truth– a knowledge which requires committed intimacy– then you will KNOW what is His Character– His Name– and what is a lie the enemy has told you about Him. This is the litmus: whatever is truly admirable and desirable– and you recognize this instinctively, as a human created in His Image and re-created through Baptism into His Likeness– whatever is lovely & pure & true & good and all those other virtuous qualities Saint Paul outlined– ALL such things are ASPECTS OF HIS BEING. If something doesn't fit those criteria, then it's NOT. And DON'T GET FOOLED. PUT YOUR REFINED PALATE TO WORK. Christ is "all sweetness," and once you have TASTED that in TRUTH, then NOTHING can trick you into thinking otherwise. If you have to "convince yourself" or "reinterpret things" TO see them as "desirable," you're just sugarcoating poison. STOP IT. ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SHOW YOU THE TRUTH. You know what His "flavor" is, through SACRAMENT & SCRIPTURE!! so FOCUS ON THAT.
Seriously, reflect deeply on this, and pray fervently about it. I can guarantee you it will change your life.]
