Vineyard Days – Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride, Part 3

You know how a dream can convey understanding in a brief blip of brevity? This dream wasn’t like that. Neither is this Bride-life. Those with Shulamite hearts feel the need for courageous perseverance that comes only through Holy Spirit’s empowering. So, thank you for joining me in the becoming garden of Christ’s Eden as we continue to unpack the dream in  Vineyard Days – Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride, Part 3.

(You may read the dream here: Vineyard Days – Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride; and post-dream Part 2 here: Vineyard Days – Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride, Part 2).

Been there, Done that. Now repeat.

A while back – a year or more? – I jotted down a question that ticker-taped its way across my brain:

When did where we’ve been become sufficient for where we’re going?

I replayed the dream before I climbed out of bed that morning. Not long after, the muted garden of yesteryear had me digging through desk notes to find that piece of paper. It seemed the answer was waiting among the contentedly sleepy mindset: Been there, Done that. Now repeat.

Soul – first scene

In revisiting the muted garden of yesteryear, I mean it when I say Holy Spirit has uncanny timing to pay a visit. The dream came as we step into chapter 5 of the Song. I could never have planned the seamless alignment of Selah X with this Covid-19 induced pause. It serves as a timely reminder that the Shulamite-Bride provides a scriptural model of us.

Before she could be drawn on into the next phase Shepherd Lover had waiting, it was back to the bedroom and another visitation from Him. As her spiritual journey continues in upcoming Vineyard Days posts, we’ll see her choice to remain contentedly sleepy came at a cost. By the time she roused herself to respond, He had taken his leave. It was not His approach that was untimely; her lack of opportune response curtailed His lingering, though never His love.

And therein lies the rub – both in the still-alive garden of muted white tones and the involuntary jolt to the reality of this bridal calling.

At present, we have Covid-19 to thank for a near-overnight shift of lifestyle – a sober jolt of reality. We find out if our contentment relies on familiar yesteryear or pressing into uncharted territory of our faith walk in Christ.

This is the point in the dream where fifty different sermons could be preached and each one would have credibility. What I sensed both in the dream and as I awakened from it was too multi-layered to express now, but two things stood out –

Each life represented in the muted garden of yesteryear had made its own personal confession in the collective garden.
And, Been there, done that. Now repeat is no longer sufficient to a heart answering Christ’s call to ‘come away, my beloved’.

Courtesy of the dream Divinely poised here in the middle of Vineyard Days, the Song’s theme remains the Shulamite’s three confessions of love (parts 1, 2, 3). Though shared nearly seven years ago, they remain a plumb line by which to gauge our growth in Divine love. The Shulamite-Bride serves us well by portraying how Christ’s Bride is marked and identified. In this pandemic pause, I encourage you to read her three confessions, again or for the first time.

II Corinthians 3:16-18 (TPT)

16 But the moment one turns to the Lord with an open heart, the veil is lifted and they see.
17 Now, the “Lord” I’m referring to is the Holy Spirit, and wherever he is Lord, there is freedom.
18 We can all draw close to him with the veil removed from our faces.
And with no veil we all become like mirrors
who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus.
We are being transfigured into his very image as we move from
one brighter level of glory to another.
And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

“…the muted garden roses and flora were on the edge of coming fully white and alive.
Wherever Christ’s illumination shone, the garden was awake and vibrant!” (from the dream)

Soul – second scene

“Jesus baptism – with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” As I wrote that in Selah X ~ Christ’s Bride before sharing the dream, I was not unaware that fire has many functions. One only need look at it in the natural to employ a spiritual decipher. Fire can be destructive, yet it can cleanse disease. Fire provides needed warmth. It can also become incredibly hot. The heat from fire can produce succulent food, a veritable banquet of flavors – roasted, tenderized, caramelized, savory.

In the case of the charred bird wings, there were so many thoughts coming that I considered resorting to a bullet list. Somehow, the thought of a shopping list approach that one could check off felt demeaning to the message. Instead, I recognized that Jesus’ baptism with fire brings about the most costly and sacred virtues in our relationship with Him.

Therefore, there are elements about the charred bird wings in this dream that I have asked Holy Spirit to make known and understood to you personally. The reason for writing Vineyard Days is to support Christ’s Bride being made ready, not merely a public chronicle of a personal diary. At times, Vineyard Days could be aptly renamed Shulamites ‘R Us.

Protection and Pinions

Two notes I knew in the dream were 1) protection and 2) by use, the aptitude of Christ’s Bride to rise on eagle’s wings.

With regard to the first, one beloved scripture I have heard referenced numerous times during these pandemic days is Psalm 91 (linked here to the Voice translation, with a most encouraging author’s note included midway). Covid-19 and most things surrounding it have ignited concern, if not downright fear in the hearts of many – believers included. To immerse oneself in hope-filled promises of protection when we turn to God for refuge, brings peace – fear’s antidote.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze. (Isaiah 43:2b)

So, what about the charred wings? It was interesting to note the large wing seemed too small to belong to an eagle, while I instinctively knew it was an eagle. A small one – an eaglet – that had been in a fire.

One thing about eaglets learning to fly: they are apt to crash and burn unless borne up on pinions of safety. They don’t, however, decide that always hitchhiking a flight is the best way to live and survive. They develop and learn not just to fly but soar on the currents. They let the winds blow and learn to use them – to nest a bit and then to launch out again.

My husband and I took a drive this past winter to a nearby lake community to watch the eagles. We were not disappointed; there was a pair that captured our gaze. Their graceful flight patterns of unfettered freedom were simply captivating. Then they dove. From high above the surface occurrences, they saw both their sustenance and their prey.

By practice and use, Christ’s Bride will increase her ability to rise on wings like eagles. It does not come about by osmosis, but by metamorphosis. Protection and Pinions. You can have one without the other. But why would you?

Gracefully Free

Next up: Part 4 and the veil of white roses