Love Is In Bloom

I sat down at my desk, overlooking the beautiful rose that I could reach out and touch if a window was not between us. Pages and pages of a paper with the focal point of suffering stood between me and success. A wall hit like this paper was my limit. I had done so much work and studied so hard the past couple years with just one class to go. How is it that the last five minutes on a treadmill seem the longest? I felt as though time was slowly passing in ironic fashion making the ending drawn out and tiring moreso than the other many semesters combined. I felt a bone deep tired feeling take over and the wind in my sails heavier than light. I breathed in deeply and noticed the Arkansas hills, sky, and treetops, along with rooftops that scattered the valley below my new house. There was no window big enough or beautiful enough to make this place Heaven. In a good way, my hope in that was lost. And then, like an unexpected surprise a spider as big as a quarter crawled onto my window. The w...

     Jesus is seen as the suffering servant who was crucified on the cross in a brutal death and betrayed by his closest friends in the later chapters of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Along with the most extreme suffering, there is a polar opposite side of popularity and glory. He was the favorite student at the temple and wise beyond his years. People listened to him and he confidently stayed steady in the praise. His character of being fully God and fully man did not waver in these times of being noticed for his incredible qualities that grew in their site. He also knew he was going to be rejected and suffer betrayal and death, but none of this changed the way he lived in the moment with these teachers, along with those who loved him. Even with the knowledge of the intensity of suffering to come, he was faithful to grow in favor and love authentically the very people that would turn their backs on him. There was a very distinct moment that his rejection ...