The Potential of Longings Fulfilled

During my quiet time yesterday God showed me an amazing connection between Proverbs 13:12 and Revelation 22:1-2. I was studying this verse because my fellowship group is reading Paula Rhinehart's book, "Strong Women, Soft Hearts."

The first chapter is Awakening: God Calls Our Hearts. The main point of the chapter is that as the pain of life inevitability affects our hearts it causes us to be people who build walls of self-protection instead of bridges. As we build walls we shield ourselves from pain but also from experiencing the good parts of life. She writes that we should experience life deeply as we feel connected to those we love. Of course living this way exposes our hearts to the potential of pain & rejection in a real, vulnerable way.

Hence the reason we more naturally build walls and not bridges.


Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."





According to dictionary.com I found these meanings:

Hope: feeling of desire, to hope is to look forward to with desire & confidence
Deferred: postponed, delayed, suspended, withheld
Heart: the center of personality, innermost or central part, core, essential part
Sick: afflicted with illness, nausea
Longing: strong, persistent desire or craving
Fulfilled: satisfied, completed
Tree of life: tree in Eden with fruit yielding eternal life; tree of the heavenly Jerusalem with leaves for healing of the nations

In other words, Proverbs 13:12 could sound something like this:
"Desire withheld makes the center of your personality afflicted with nausea; a craving satisfied is the healing of the nations."

So, what would it mean if we as Christians live like this?

• building bridges with others
• hoping & risking our hearts to pain (or nausea)
• allowing longings to be truly felt & completed
  

The potential is in Rev 22:2. "On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."

Living among the diversity (the nations) in NYC, I pray that God would give me the grace to risk my heart, to live in hope, to build bridges, that I would be like Christ, THE HEALER OF THE THE NATIONS.