Photo Credit: Pixabay
“Arise my darling, my beautiful one and come with me. See! the winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.” Song of Songs 2:10-13
Doves, in any language = Peace on Earth. What comes to your mind when you hear a dove cooing? To me it’s always been a beckoning sound. A sound to Stop and ponder. More times than not, people have associated this peaceful sound with a “bad omen”. If we look closely at the scripture in Song of Songs the cooing of doves is actually meant to be a good sign. Cooing doves were present at Jesus’ Birth, Baptism, and Death. When Jesus was Baptized in the Jordan River the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove as He came up out of the water. Noah sent the dove out of the ark 3 times before the bird never came back denoting dry land was available and it was safe to leave the boat. Clearly, a cooing dove is a sign of the Divine Spirit, God; not as either a good or bad sign. Rather, it’s a sign to Wake UP, something important is happening, God has a message…. We humans sometimes fall short of our mission, rebel because we get selfish, disregard warnings, and fall away from God altogether.
“We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away. For our offenses are many in your sight and our sins testify against us…. and we acknowledge our rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God….(Yet) the Redeemer will come to those who repent of their sins…” Isaiah 59:11, 12, 13, 21 (NIV)
Cooing doves also serve remind us that sometimes we need to just quiet our minds, Listen for His Voice, heed the Warnings, and sincerely Pray with an expression of remorse at our wrong doings. There is Salvation in the name of Jesus. He Redeemed You and me. Accept His forgiveness and experience the deepest kind of Peace on Earth. When the doves coo, let us pause to remember we’ve received His provision of salvation, and let us not forget about the lost, the suffering, the grieved, the sick, those in need, and to Pray for Peace on Earth.
So I ask you again, “What comes to Your mind when you hear a dove cooing”?