Letters to Juliet

Today I want to share a letter from the movie "Letters to Juliet".  Without getting into the plot of the movie I will just say that the letter is written to a woman named Claire by another woman (posing as Juliet -from Romeo and Juliet) who is challenging her to follow after the one she loves. 

The letter:                  

 Dear Claire,

What -and -If -are two words as non-threatening as words can be. But put them together side-by-side and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life: What if? What if? What if? I don't know how your story ended but if what you felt then was true love, then it's never too late. If it was true then, why wouldn't it be true now? You need only the courage to follow your heart. I don't know what a love like Juliet's feels like - love to leave loved ones for, love to cross oceans for -but I'd like to believe if I ever were to feel it, that I will have the courage to seize it. And, Claire, if you didn't, I hope one day that you will. All my love, Juliet"

 This letter captivated my attention.  As I heard these words in this movie all I could think of was my own true love -Jesus. What if I had not had the courage to come to Him when He called me out of darkness?  And then once I came to Him,what if I had not had the courage to follow the leading of this new heart He gave me? (A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: Ezekial 36:26  )The heart that dares to go wherever it's lover goes.  I know what a love like Juliets feels like. A love to leave loved ones opinions for ,a love to cross oceans for- even oceans of unforgiveness , bitterness and grief.  I have found that love !  This love has come to all who believe.  His name is Jesus. He is the ultimate expression of Gods love.  And to the degree that we are willing to die to the ideas that have shaped and formed our very being, and follow the way ,the truth ,and the life......(Gods word made flesh) -we will find Him.  To follow Him is to then, in turn, come to Him.......as He has come to us.
Do you have the courage that it takes to truly find Him?  (We will seek Him and find Him when we seek him with all of our hearts Deut 4:29)
After all it is the VERY heart He has placed in us that would cause us to want to do such a thing.  Is that heart not also ABLE to enable us ?  Is He not able to help us through the ocean of bitterness, grief ,or unforgiveness...(you fill in the blank) Some would say that God wouldn't ask so much of us.  That there is no way we can be able to do such a thing, I mean after all we're only human. Ahhh but God who saved us would not leave us helpless and unable to do the very thing that He commands us to do!
   
   I hope and pray that all of those I love come to know the love of God (found in Jesus) intimately, and have the courage to take hold of Him as He has taken hold of us.  (I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.Phil 3:12)
 It's never too late in this life to follow the dreams God Himself has born in our hearts.

Ephesians 3 14-21

14For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. 20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

O my darling, lingering in the gardens, your companions are fortunate to hear your voice. Let me hear it, too!

Come away, my love! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices

Song of Solomon 8:13-14