"Love one another from a clean heart fervently." How can I grow this sweet, white flower? We cannot command it; we can grow it.
It is the "amen" in a spiritual succession. If I want the flower, I must begin at the root. If I want the love, I must begin with obedience.
The human and the Divine combine and co-operate, and in their mingled ministry create the sweet and unpolluted flower of love.
Not forced. Not manufactured. Grown. Sixty-four mornings of contemplating holiness — and the flower grows. Kempis stripped the self-will. Augustine showed the restless heart. Liguori taught union. Jowett girded, sobered, unveiled. And now — the flower.
Le named the partnership: I read. The Lord plants. Barnabas waters. Jowett names the same: the human and the Divine combine. The flower grows between them.
We looked for sweetness; He pointed out whiteness. We looked for gentleness; He pointed out holiness.
Wherever the apostle turns, it is the whiteness that arrests him. Behind the veil of redemption — the glory of the great white throne.
The first step in the creation of pure affection is the contemplation of a Holy God.
All flesh is as grass. The grass withers, the flower falls.
But the word of the Lord abides forever.
Blessed assurance: the grass withers, the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever.
The human and the Divine combine, and in their mingled ministry create the sweet and unpolluted flower of love.
The first step in the creation of pure affection is the contemplation of a Holy God.
The boxes will be packed and forgotten. The apartment sold and forgotten. But the Word read sixty-four mornings — abides. The moments of God do not fall. The journal preserves what grass cannot hold.
Consuelo wrote: A recompensa de Deus é o próprio Deus, e somente Ele. The flower of love is not the reward. God Himself is the reward. The flower is the evidence that the soul has been in His presence. The contemplation produces the love. But the Father is the goal. The flower simply proves the soul has been gazing at the whiteness.
The first step is the contemplation of a Holy God. That is what the mornings have been. The beholding that transforms — 2 Corinthians 3:18. Not by striving. Not by commanding the flower. By looking at the whiteness until the whiteness enters the soul.
The obedience prepares the soil. The Word provides the atmosphere. And the love — fervent, clean, unpolluted — blooms where the human and the Divine have combined.
"The human and the Divine combine, and in their mingled ministry create the sweet and unpolluted flower of love."
J.H. Jowett · Le's Heart · Caldas da Rainha · Day sixty-four · The Word abides — the flower bloomsThe Flower of Love
Not commanded — grown. Begin at the root. Begin with obedience. The flower is the omega of a spiritual succession.
The Human and the Divine
Le reads — human. The Spirit speaks — Divine. In their mingled ministry, the flower of love. The partnership of sixty-four mornings.
The Contemplation of Whiteness
We looked for sweetness — He showed whiteness. The first step: gazing upon holiness. The whiteness enters the soul.
The Word Abides
Grass withers. Flowers fall. But the Word endures. The mornings do not fade. The journal preserves what grass cannot.