Sanctified Seduction

   She

I am a rose of Sharon,
   a lily of the valleys.

   He

Like a lily among thorns
   is my darling among the young women.

   She

Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest
   is my beloved among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade,
   and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
Let him lead me to the banquet hall,
   and let his banner over me be love. – Song of Solomon 2:1-4

Today’s Reading: Song of Solomon 1-3; Galatians 2

I didn’t like to read growing up. It all seemed so boring. We always had to read stores about people who weren’t like me, people I couldn’t relate to. It was a chore that I would rather not have done. I was content with skating by with some cliff’s notes and a prayer.

But that all changed my junior year when I took British Literature and we got to what became my favorite poem of all time: To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell.

It is the most pimpinest piece of classical work that I have ever read.

The author is writing the poem to a woman that he digs. He is trying to convince her to come up off of her virginity without being married. There isn’t time enough to wait. Who knows if waiting will lead them to the grave? Seize the day now! Enjoy life and live it to the fullest. Of course he argues that the way to do this is by having sex with him.

Dudes game was timeless… literally.

Of course I loved it for the gargantuan game displayed by Mr. Marvell but mostly because he was talking about something I could relate to. What 16 year old kid wasn’t trying to holler at girls? I know I was. But I found it so strange to see his game at work in old English. It totally changed my perspective on what “literature” was. I thought that maybe if something like this exists then there was other stuff out there that would resonate with me.

Something similar happened when I read Song of Solomon. In the pages of the Bible we see a poetic love story between a man and a woman. They are longing for each other, admiring each other from afar in hopes that one day soon they would be able to consummate their love. And when you see through the imagery and metaphors it’s pretty graphic too!

This is in the Bible folks! The Bible!

The Bible talks about everything. I don’t care if you are looking for guidance regarding your purpose in life or how to talk to a man or woman of interest the Bible has answers and examples.

Pretty good for a document that’s 2000 years old and counting…

Read along and enjoy. You’ll be surprised by what you read between the lines.