Inn of Still Waters
She resides at the top of the hill - the lonely little road leading to her sees only a few residents slowly walking by or hears the buzz of the vespa going by loaded with fresh
produce as it teeters and totters down the narrow road to the fruit and vegetable stand where it will be divested of its load. Her view is wide and she sees the Golfo di Napoli from her back windows and the Golfo di Salerno from her front windows and garden.
The fragrance of the jasmine and the sound of the wind in the kiwi vines are part of summer. The scent of the lemons in late autumn before they are plucked and brought in where some of them are used to make a limoncello, an after dinner drink. The heavy laurel trees provide the leaves to scent the cooking (bay leaves). They also can be made into an after dinner drink that aides the digestion. Or should someone have a nauseating headache, laurel(bay) leaves and fennel seed make a tea that is helpful. Fresh oranges, bread and espresso on the terrazzo in the morning, steaming plates of pasta at noon and in the evening there are endless surprises from the culinary art room. Birds will hint at the morning and invite you to swing open those deep windows and lean out to inhale the day. Exhale and you stretch and open your heart to what it will offer you - only you can reach out to partake of it. These feathered creatures will serenade you from the privacy of their various spots on the perimeter of the garden. They see you, you hear them, and they tease you to find their operatic stage. Hot summer evenings draw you into sitting outside at the bistro table or in
a deck chair. Once the cooler breezes have ushered in the night you can slowly walk in bare feet along the tiled floors and stretch out on the fresh linen sheets ...and dream until you are invited into the new day. When winter arrives thick quilts are placed upon the beds and spending longer in bed corresponds with the length of the darkness. Soon she will be filled with the fragrances of traditional Christmas cooking and the scent of greenery and the deep rich colours of her elegant fabrics.
She is stately and elegant, warm and full of passion and she beckons you with her charms. She invites you to live, to life, to this very moment, all your senses awake and engaged. You are asked to acknowledge and recognize them - through her sounds, her colours, her own music, her garden with its changing seasons and the blend of sunlight and shade, the fabrics she is draped in and how the light changes them. The scent from her culinary art gallery invites you to partake of her abundance with delight and honour.
When I saw her I fell in love with her - my walking companions thought she was worthless, but I see her beauty, I hear her beautiful life giving purpose. I see her complete glorious self even if no one else does. I've named her, I love her and I still dream of her. She is my own "Inn of Still Water" - the place where soul is restored.
Like the woman in Hosea who was broken, caused huge heart ache, carried enormous pain and anger - she was visibly a wreck. Yet, to the Almighty, she was looked at with the eyes of the heart that saw the complete restoration. He said "Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to start all over again...I'll give her bouquets of roses. I'll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope..." Oh yes! The Almighty sees beyond the brokenness and devaluation, the anger and the shame and holds out the picture of truth - what His eyes and heart really see! He never stops inviting us to see and live in that picture as well.That's the eyes of restoration.
I see my Inn of Still Water with eyes that take in the brokenness and yet my heart sees her completely restored and inviting others to that restoration of soul. The Almighty sees my/our brokenness with both the eyes and the heart while at the same time seeing us as healed, beautiful and complete with both His eyes and His heart. And I hear the Spirit whispering that truth this morning, I am accepting the renewed invitation into today.