Vineyard Days – Winter House

“Scarcely had I left them when I found him whom my soul loves; I held on to him and would not let him go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, and into the room of her who conceived me.”
Song of Songs 3:4 NASB

***

It’s winter again where I live. The storms have been raging – rotating between devastating wind, snow, rain, wind and rain, an occasional blue sky day, and eventually more snow.

There is no season more pristine in its fresh white beauty. But a few miles and a couple of days later, all that is white with the world becomes grimed up, cold and unappealing.

Eventually we all long to find our way indoors where warmth and light, food and rest await us. We were not born to be vagabonds without a place to call home.

From the days of the Shepherd’s Hut to the Winter House, the Shulamite has been on a journey mapped out by the Bridegroom King himself. A passage designed to guide His beloved’s heart deep into His own.

If redemption was a color, I think it would be white.

***

A friend shared the following dream a while back that fits so beautifully with Winter House:

I dreamed that I was apartment hunting. Arriving at one I saw in the ads, I found there were four apartment doors from which to choose up on the second or third level. Instead of being marked with unit numbers, they had nameplates listed as Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. The real estate agent* met me there and I asked to see Winter.

After the agent unlocked the door, I stepped into the large main room of Winter’s two-bedroom unit. However, it soon transitioned from two bedrooms to four and kept expanding. The rear of the apartment opened into a vast backyard with room for several cars to park. It was huge and expansive; one would never guess standing at the door how large and spread out it was.

It was like living in the city but in a country setting, the yard park-like, green and growing.

Back inside, the interior was completely carpeted in pure, crystalline snow. Dazzling white. Crisp, clean, fresh snow that glistened with the faintest hint of green. And, it was not cold!

Seeing all that snow I expected it to be downright chilly in the apartment. Instead, it was warm and inviting, even though the beautiful white snow was its chief decorating feature.

I asked the landlady how much the rent would be and was pleasantly surprised that not only was it within my means, it was far less than I had anticipated! I wanted the apartment.

Afterward, I wondered to myself, “If Winter is this beautiful, what do the other apartments look like?!”

***

When last we paused with the Shulamite in Selah VII, she had found the One her soul loves. Her response upon finding Him was to tightly hold on to Him until she brought Him to ‘my mother’s house, and into the room of her who conceived me.’ (Songs 3:4)

Solomon while writing the Song described this place of intimacy one could come into by first entering into ‘my mother’s house‘ – in the Hebrew meaning family and winter house, from which comes the title of this post. Then moving on ‘into the room of her who conceived me’ – the inner chamber or innermost part of the heart. Where nothing is hidden but all may be forgiven, washed and made white as snow.

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the LORD,
“Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool…
Isaiah 1:18 NASB

The best part of the accuracy of the Word and our friend’s divinely inspired dream? The Hebrew for room in Songs 3:4 also means apartment.

A place to call home regardless of the spiritual season and circumstances in which we find ourselves.

He doesn’t miss a detail, does He?

***

As the dream hinted at and the Shulamite’s response reminds us when everyone and all else could no longer satisfy her,

– To search for Him leads to finding Him. (like hunting for an apartment)
– To find Him leads to holding on to Him. (securing this new place to live)
– To hold on and not let Him go until one has brought Him into the deeply personal place of bonding and intimacy is to finally have made our heart His winter house. (the place of His intimate life and repose)

Everything changes when He is found, held onto, and brought in to take up His government in our heart.

Please join me next time. He’s about to rearrange the furniture.

~ Gracefully Free

*As our friend related the dream, they indicated that the real estate agent represented the Holy Spirit. I concur.

House photo credit: Life Alone via photopin (license) –
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