A day before me … yet restlessness aggravates my soul. Without purposeful surrender to His plans for my day, I opt to go my own way. “All we like sheep are prone to wander.”

David purposed: “One thing I desire, I seek: to dwell in Your house all the days of my life…” meditating, gazing, simply beholding every facet of His beauty. He is to be valued, enough so that we seek Him.

In the Song of Solomon, chapter 3, the shepherd hides himself from his bride. He is not a ‘cheap thrill,’ but one who wants us to search for him with passion and commitment. Song 3:4 reads: when she found him, “I held on to him and would not let go.” She was tenacious! Ruined for anything less, she was grateful that he allowed himself to be found. All things paled in comparison.

How do we cultivate the art of waiting on and communing with our Lord, our Shepherd ~ without interruption?

We resist our flesh, which is restless, demanding, whiny, and self-centered. Its intentions are to pull away ~ to be coddled. Yet a holy desire to be infected with insatiable attraction to His glory will forever ruin us. More than likely, we may be mocked for it, as was the woman wasting the alabaster perfume upon Jesus. Her radical offering, however the taunts and ridicule of many, satisfied her deepest longing.

How long did the fragrance of her perfume last upon His body ~ costly as it was? Perhaps this fragrance, which cost her everything, lingered indefinitely … possibly helping to sustain Him through beatings, mocking, spittle, spikes and thorns. Cheap perfume won’t last. The sacrificial pourings of our fragrant worship is not just for ourselves…but is to minister unto the heart of our Lord. Its fragrance is lasting.