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He met me there.
The vast city spread far out beneath us, encircling the high rise where we stood, but it faded from my memory and just remained in feeling as I sensed His Presence.
Turning, I smiled. He was there, looking into my eyes with fathomless love.
I reached out and slid into His arms easily, swiftly, simply. His heart was warm, solid. It held me, held my aching head like like nothing else has ever held me.
“Why do so many not know?” I whispered, my cheek pressing against Him, my eyes catching the glow of nighttime city lights echoing into the sky. “So many are missing the depth of romance with You.”
I drew back a little then, looking up to see His face.
Glistening water gathered in those fathomless eyes. They were so deep. My small, human heart pondered the reality I had asked, and my own tears started.
He looked down at me then. I could tell He was guarding the amount of pain in His gaze—for my sake. My face crumpled.
“It hurts, doesn’t it, Jesus?” I whispered.
Tears of pain started down His cheeks. I reached up my hands to gently and cautiously wipe them, blinking to see through my own weeping.
“I’m sorry.” I said, from my heart, taking empathy in His pain. “I’m sorry!”
I finally had to stop wiping, and I buried my head right into His chest, the sobs beginning to sink into my soul.
It was a world of the divine—a sight beyond—that rushed before the eyes of our hearts.
And I could feel His heart …it reverberated right into my soul.
One hand moved to rest against my cheek, and I turned my head slightly to receive it. His thumb gently rubbed against my head in a comforting motion.
The scar.
I reached up my hand to gently touch the back of His hand against my face, tracing the wounded skin a little. I could tell He understood my sudden sob.
He rocked gently, His warm tears cascading one by one down my hair, comforting while needing comfort. Ever strong. And I knew.
His shoulders bore so much, so bravely, so truly, without breaking. Only God could do so. Only God could love like this. Only God could sob with the deepest pain of the entire world, while never flinching because He LOVED. Loved with all of His power, all of who He was, for He was LOVE. He is Love.
Love made the world. Love created the skies. Love designed man’s breath. Love filled the sky with song and Love traced the intricate paths of the sea.
And Love grasped on when man fell. Love found a way. Love faced the righteous demands of Himself and gave up all. Because that’s Who Love is. Who He is.
We might have swayed there for hours, or maybe it was days and years, I really don’t know. Heavenly time spins outside man’s clock, lifting the soul into a whirlwind of the divine, a whisper of wind slow as a gentle river and fast as a thunderstorm on a spring day.
“Come.” It was more action than it was words, but I felt His pull.
He led us towards the middle of the flat roof that we stood upon. Gently, he moved me back a little and slipped His fingers into mine.
When our eyes met, I felt it. We were bonded. Lifted. Intertwined. Part of me had become a part of Him in that moment of sorrow together. No longer so apart, as though my spirit had left my body.
That’s when I heard it.
The stars could sing. The firmament’s tongue was finally loosed, my ears finally understanding.
Music. Deep music, touching music, music that was felt. I squeezed my fingers in His hand and our smiles mirrored each other. I put my head back towards the stars, and as though fluid skaters on ice, we began to spin. Spin under that wild expanse of sky.
It was flowing, flowing like a river across a silken mirror. My arms slipped easily into a twirl, my head going down and around, making our hands cross. He pressed forward, I skated easily one foot behind the other, my eyes falling into delight, gazing into His.
Such freedom there, so much vastness, so much space. Sometimes it was so overwhelming I had to temporarily look away. It was like taking deep breaths of fresh mountain air or coming into a world I never realized I belonged in.
I re-twisted, our arms becoming parallel again, hands still clasped.
That’s when He let go of one hand, allowing me to spin slightly free. We started into a circling, our faces tilted towards each other, wind whipping our cheeks. I saw the city lights, but instead of pathos, I felt their dreamy reflection of the sky above and I pressed on.
Slip, slide, twist and around. It was smooth, rhythm following rhythm, music pure and divine threading between us like a circling of butterflies ready to release into the atmosphere.
And above us, the stars laughed with joy.
Below, the world waited, Hope in the wings.
And on the roof of one high-rise tower, a soul was molded and comforted with power, hope, and LOVE for eternity.
For that is the presence of God …healing in all its fullness.
—
(Picture from Unsplash(dot)com and lettering by me.)
