I GIVE – SONG, November 22, 2025

Hup thought about Henry in his treehouse, looking up and down his street. Here, they were taken to the mountain tops to behold those things which were, are and will be… all beyond the dens of lions, and mountains of leopards with their spots, all lashing out at those are peculiar to the world below as lilies in the valleys. Hup thought of the Devil and to the mountains that Satan took him, but the mountains of Amana, Shenir and Hermon meant much more: Amana, God’s faithfulness, Shenir, imputed purity, and then Hermon, the consecrated church, set apart. Indeed, the Bridegroom did not take her there to suggest her future ownership of what would be owned, but was already owned.

After Hup shared those thoughts with his dinner guests, Connie blurted, ‘How can that be?”

“Really?” Hup asked, and had to laugh. “You, Connie… you too, Diane, you should know how easy it is for one’s heart to be ravished… taken in so wholly, completely by the mere mention a whispered I love you, spoken in the darkness of the night!”

“My husband knows,” Cordia whispered and looked at Hup. 

“Oh, yes, I know. Wicked men know well the devil’s ploys and tempts.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little rough Hup?” Bill asked, and gave a little shake of his head as if to rid himself of the possible indictment.

“Am I?” Hup asked. “Come on, we love the idea that we’re not without spot. We opened the door, Christ came in, and there we supped and there, we stayed. The fact that his Father in heaven gave us to him, that was what ravished Christ’s heart… Jesus knew that His Father would bring to completion what was started. Yes, we ravished his heart, and we are the benefactors of such a great love.”

“Much better than wine? The verse said our scent… our perfume is better too than all the spices… am I saying it right, Hup?”

Connie wanted so much more than her husband seemed to care for. Hup and Cordia both caught his look. 

“Yes, you said it beautifully. Of course, sometimes we don’t pass the smell test… that doesn’t mean we aren’t Christ’s at that moment, but the smells that we give off does change – sometimes for the stinky as we wallow in it in unconfessed sin, and if we’re in Jesus, the wind changes – brings in from the south the sweeter.”

“Our words – what we say – should drop sweetly on the ears of those whose hearing is attuned to our Shepherd’s voice.”

“Words like honey,” Diane offered, greatly encouraged by Hup’s willingness to consider their thoughts – she and Connie. 

“Yes,” Cordia affirmed, knowing that Hup wanted – no, deeply desired – his spouse to participate. “Honey and milk: honey to sweeten, and milk to nourish… from under the tongue… “

Hup finishes her thought, “…not what flows over and is foolish in its use of breath.”

“Are you tag-teaming us Hup? Cordia?” Bill asked, leaned back and laughed.

“As the Spirit moves – yes, I do say so, but the truth is found in the hold of the final pin, and final utterance, ‘I give!’