“And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” Colossians 3:14 (KJV)

The fifth season is the return of summer from where I began a year ago. In life. I was born in the summer when leaves were full, green, unfurled to a beautiful suppleness. The sweetness of the spring blossom had all but faded. The dawn of my awakening has progressed to midday. I have arrived and the  sun is high and hot.

My life is seasons lined up. The next awaiting, the former to serve purpose. And purpose is served. I needn’t yearn for a god, when I now am safe and secure in God.

The seasons I walked through to be here! Across stinging hoarfrost walking to the welcoming Christ – warm glow in the snowy window. That season hurt. The walk in frail nakedness, unprotected, is perilous without hope in sight. I nearly lost all things but saw a glow from far away. I was encouraged and tired enough to bear the sting on my bare feet.

All that we have is all that we have to lose. It is our ‘self’ –  sordid and haggard after being beat down enough by a merciless world. The enemy’s stronghold. He tells us the stinging and bare vulnerability will pass. He has something that will cause sorrow sway. If I would have listened, I surely would be lost eternally. But, I saw a faint glow that roused curiosity. It was far off across the snow and even in my state of nothingness I knew it was right to trudge toward the light. I rapped at the door and I was met with welcoming smile. We talked by a fire so warm, He and I. Vulnerability failed transcending to security. His guardian eyes were of instant protection and warmth. I asked if there was anything beyond the coldness of where I had been. The endless attempts of filling, filling: the endless thirst of a dying soul. He gave assurance with a condition. “Be still and know I am Your God”. I trusted Him. From the warmth of the fire, the sheltering haven, I was empty no longer. I stepped onto the snow again, dragging a tree. A burden with assured purpose. The snow ended and the earth dried. A perfect place to plant this tree and there I shed my final bit of resistance. It screamed at me screeching and writhing as I nailed it to this tree. “No! I am you” he cried. Not really. I had a sense of peace. Ego was dead with no remorse. The narcissus bloomed within all the places I looked as a sure sign of a new season coming. Ironic narcissus….

The blossom atop a stem, piercing upward from a bulb quickly spent was fragrant and there was snow no more. I felt the breeze of life surround me. No looking back – pine not for what once tried to kill you. Forge ahead to fields of green grass and waters of deep, cool water.

The sun shone high and warmed throughout. It is odd as my heart was still vulnerable, only this vulnerability was certain about its purpose. Open your heart to others. An open heart, protected by God, invites others to hope. This heart: It sees other hearts crying and I cry too. It is compassion. It is agape love I am reassured by He whose eyes still smiled. Whose heart engulfed me. O mercy. How I hear the crying. I seek each day, with sun high in the summer sky, the crying heart. Even with an exposed heart I fear no evil shall try to steal joy or stem the outpouring love. The Source of this love is God Himself.

Tears pour down my cheek as I love. I see one crying in their wilderness. It is funny how I can stand in a valley and there is a shadow of death all around – a winter of hoarfrost. Many naked feet stinging. Crying hearts seeking. There is a gap between the crying and the Father. I stand there and I take the hand of a lost soul and kneel and pray with them. The Father is kind and He again invites a new one to His fire behind the window. This window is the plane infinite in all directions. One side is stinging frost and ever-yearning hopelessness. The other is a the warm fire and the quiet communal sanctuary with He who first died. Seasons don’t always blend slowly into the next. They sometimes change as simple as rapping on a door, looking through a window, infinite in four directions. There is flesh on one side and God  on the other of this infinite window. The door is narrow and we must squeeze through, but when we do, we are transformed to all love. And as much as we do for the Kingdom of God, it is his love that holds all souls together. Charity is Agape love. With open hearts we seek with keen ears the crying of those in the barren and cold and draw them to the warmth of the binding fire.

© 2013 Rick Stassi