Alleluia

"Alleluia."

I feel Him in the garden, my hands in the soil, plucking weeds, rearranging this and that. He hovers over me, as delighted in my efforts to seed and grow things, as if it were that first moment of Creation.

He is mighty. I am not. But the life He poured into root and rhizome He has given to my care. At least, for these few square feet.

It isn’t much, my garden. It may look helter-skelter to some, a hodgepodge of pots and planters filled with flowers and herbs and bulbs. But to me, it is my secret place, a rearrangement of growing things I share with my dogs, a handful of scampering brown lizards, and God.

He is pleased with my efforts, mostly because it brings me such joy. He delights to see me happy. That is the kind of Friend He is. The kind of Father. And more, He is JAH.

This morning before I set to work, I looked up the word “alleluia.” It appears only in Revelation 19.

“And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God.” (Rev 19:1)

It is a Greek word taken from Hebrew and made up of two parts. “Halel" meaning “to shine, to make a show, to boast, to be clamorously foolish, to rave, to celebrate.”

This is our behavior toward Him. He is so marvelous in our eyes we cannot stop ourselves from celebrating to the point of looking silly. One commentary even defines it as “to act like a madman.”

The latter half of the word is “Jah,” meaning “the Lord most vehement.” I find this particularly pointed. To be “vehement” is to be “passionate, intense, overly emotional” and “marked by great exertion.”

Here is the God I serve, the one who walks with me in my garden. He is a passionate, ardent, zealous God. For justice. For truth. For mercy. For me. He rejoices over me as much as I celebrate Him.

“The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” (Zeph 3:17)

How marvelous that is. My Father, Friend sings over me. He's the Maker of the world, the just Judge, the Almighty, but He’s also intensely personal, vehement, in His love for me.

If I ever doubted it, I stopped long ago. We've come through too much together. We've overcome my weaknesses, walking side-by-side, and now, we have an amazing union. I talk to him, and He talks to me.

About many things, my ever-changing writing, our prayer time together, but especially these flowers. Delicate blossoms He created, each one specific to His taste. And to mine. Alleluia.

Photo by Suzanne D. Williams

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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.feelgoodromance.com
www.suzannedwilliams.com