{"id":5333,"date":"2020-03-08T09:00:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-08T14:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5333"},"modified":"2020-02-03T19:17:13","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T01:17:13","slug":"metaphorically-speaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5333","title":{"rendered":"Metaphorically Speaking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>A Journal of Joy: Things that\nmake my heart smile\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Metaphorically-Speaking-churchartpro-1024x687.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5334\" width=\"236\" height=\"157\" srcset=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Metaphorically-Speaking-churchartpro-1024x687.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Metaphorically-Speaking-churchartpro-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Metaphorically-Speaking-churchartpro-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Metaphorically-Speaking-churchartpro-1536x1031.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Metaphorically-Speaking-churchartpro-2048x1374.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 236px) 100vw, 236px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve always enjoyed reading poetry. In school, we studied the poems of\nRobert Burns, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson,\nRobert Frost, Eugene Fields, Walt Whitman, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, etc.\nMore modern poets of the 20<sup>th<\/sup> century would be Maya Angelou and one my\nchildren loved Shel Silverstein. Poetry allows us to experience ideas with\ncreative imagery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many don\u2019t realize that about 30% of the Bible was written in poetic\nform. Whole books such as Psalms, Proverbs, and Job are poetic. Much of Old\nTestament prophecy is in poetic form. What isn\u2019t written in poetic form in the\nBible still has many elements of figurative language such as similes and\nmetaphors.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being a student of literature, I am familiar with similes and metaphors.\nBoth are used to make comparisons. Similes use the word \u201clike\u201d to make a\ncomparison. For example, \u201clife is like a box of chocolates\u201d comes from the\nmovie <em>Forrest Gump. <\/em>Metaphors just\nstate the comparison. For example, \u201call the world\u2019s a stage\u201d is from Shakespeare\u2019s\nplay <em>As You Like It.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I enjoy reading modern translations of the Bible such as <em>The Message<\/em>, but I also love the imagery\ndisplayed through metaphors when reading the King James, New King James, or the\nNew International Version. I think God uses metaphors to reach out to each one\nof us, making it easier to identify with Him individually. The Bible is full of\nsuch metaphors. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve seen these examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>To the architect, Jesus is the chief cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6).<\/li><li>To the astronomer, Jesus is the Sun of righteousness (Malachi 4:2).<\/li><li>To the builder, Jesus is the firm foundation (Isaiah 28:16).<\/li><li>To the carpenter, Jesus is the door (John 10:7).<\/li><li>To the geologist, Jesus is the Rock of Ages (1 Corinthians 10:4). <\/li><li>To the farmer, Jesus is the Lord of the harvest (Luke 10:2). <\/li><li>To the jeweler, Jesus is the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:46).<\/li><li>To the herder, Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This list barely scratches the surface. Throughout the\nBible, we find a loving God reaching out to us, breaking down barriers, and\ntrying to give each of us things we can identify with \u2013 examples we can relate\nto that lead us to Jesus. It doesn\u2019t matter what our occupation is, what our\ninterests are, what we are going through \u2013 there is something in the Bible we\ncan identify with. God must love us very much to go to this much trouble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my personal life, I take it a step further. I\nimagine God saying, \u201cCome let\u2019s take a walk. You and I have a lot in common.\nThose flowers are certainly fragrant today. Did you know I am the Rose of\nSharon (Solomon 2:1)?&nbsp; Look at that\nlovely stream. Did you know I can give you living water to drink and you will\nnever thirst again (John 4:10)? Are you getting hungry? I never get hungry, but\nI would enjoy eating with you. Did you know I am the Bread of Life (John\n3:65)?\u201d&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I\u2019m sick I imagine God sitting with me saying,\n\u201cDon\u2019t fret. Did you know that I am the Great Physician (John 8:22)? You need a\nlittle rest if you are going to get better and I am the giver of rest (Matthew\n11:28). Things look dark for you now but I am the Light in this dark world\n(John 8:12).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I love thinking about Jesus being with me. No matter\nwhat I\u2019m doing or what I\u2019m going through, He is there. These metaphors help me\nsee Christ in my life all the time. When my time on earth is through Christ\nwill be with me, whispering in my ear, \u201cDo not fret, little one. I love you. I\nam the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">*****<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Lord,\nthank you for the poetry of Your living Word. Be thou my vision as I read these\nwonderful words of life. Open my eyes so I can visualize You with me as I walk\nthrough life \u2013 every step of the way. Let everything I see, touch, or feel\nremind me of You and point me to You because You, and only You, are the way,\nthe truth, the life. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Journal of Joy: Things that make my heart smile\u2026 By Barbara Dahlgren I\u2019ve always enjoyed reading poetry. In school, we studied the poems of Robert Burns, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Eugene Fields, Walt &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5333\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}