delight.

I've been reading Wild At Heart. Totally recommend it to anyone. John Eldredge hits tons of good points throughout it.
Here's some points that I just want to process through my head...

Damsels in distress. Mighty princes. Gallant knights. Tall towers. Evil dragons. Rescues. Fairy tales, right? What girl (or boy) doesn't dream of living out a Disney movie? "From ancient fables to the latest blockbuster, the theme of a strong man coming to rescue a beautiful woman is universal to human nature. It is written on our hearts, one of the core desires of every man and every woman." God gives us these desires, so why are we cautious? Fear is what Eldredge keeps coming back to. Men and women are afraid. Afraid to love, afraid to get hurt.

Let this quote sink in... "...but God...give[s] [love], again and again and again, until He is literally bleeding from it all. God's willingness to risk is just astounding--far beyond what any of us would do were we in His position." Later, he goes on to quote Revelation 12. It talks about what was going on in the spiritual world during Jesus birth. The world is the Devil's area, his designated place to roam free and influence whom he may. Think about it, God sent His Son to Satan's corner. Revelation talks about a dragon that is clawing and fighting to stop the birth, literally waiting for the Child to be born, so he can snatch Him away. Ultimate love? Coming to a world completely against His very nature, to save a people who have tuned their backs on Him. Now that's real love.

Ok, not what I got on here to talk about. Well, kind of. I wanted to process the feminine side of God's love. A woman's role in marriage to help, encourage, and support. But it's also to comfort, give life to, and please her husband. Now, God's not male, nor female and if marriage is an example of God's love, then how does that imply we're to love God? As a woman, like Eldredge says, I want someone to delight in me. Really, that's the core of a woman's problems, when she feels no one is pleased with her.

So, think about that in context of God. He wants us to delight in Him. He wants us to tell Him how beautiful and lovely He is. Sounds funny, but if I really think about it, it's life-changing. To know that when I'm rejecting God, He feels like I do when I'm rejected. It's vulnerability in one sense, but because God is God, both masculine and feminine, He's also strong. That's another part of God (like the Trinity) that's very hard, if not impossible to comprehend.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

The original word for delight in Greek is `anag and it means literally to "be pampered, to be happy about, to be delicate." Believe it or not, God wants our attention and He wants to be delighted in. He doesn't NEED it, but He wants it. That's why He gave us a choice, because if we were robots who didn't have a choice, it wouldn't be real love and devotion to Him. Knowing we're made in His likeness, and knowing the difference between the sexes can change the way we love the people around us and most definitely, the way we look at God's love for us.