My husband, Jeff, grew up on beautiful farm land in Indiana. My father-in-law raised chickens there for the first 10 years of my husband's life, and then they moved to another large plot of land where he started his own excavation business, built a home and finished raising their family. Jeff's sister and her husband now own that house, his brother built a beautiful home next to them and my in-laws live just down the rows of corn about a 1/2 mile. It really is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. There are so many things I love about it- the quiet, the tall green corn stalks in the summer, the cows, horses and especially the Amish farms that surround them. I really love going for a run or walk on the long country roads, swimming in grandma's pond and riding behind grandpa's tractor on a fall day. Those Bontrager Family roots are deep on the farm. Jeff would definitely say he identifies as an Indiana boy.
On the same hand, our little family has settled here in Colorado and we love living so close to the mountains. The Rockies are something very special, they are my birth place and my home. I feel most myself when I'm camping, fishing, hiking or adventuring in them. It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that sometimes their beauty makes me cry. My parents are from our little town, they met here in 7th grade, my grandfather was the middle school principal and all of my grandparents are buried here. Golden, Colorado has deep roots for my family and that make me feel connected and like I belong. You can certainly define me as a Colorado girl.
Where do you belong? What identifies your belonging? In our continuing series from the book of Ephesians, Paul writes in Chapter 3 about our identity before we knew Christ- ourselves separated from God with no hope. Paul was that man before he knew Jesus. A persecutor of Christians, a hot mess if you will. He says in verse 2, "Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is the mystery made known to me by revelation....I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power." He's so desperate for us to know from where he came, to the point that Christ has rescued him.
Paul goes on in verse 17 with passion, ....."So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
Whew. That is just a lot to wrap my head around. Paul wanted us to know in our knower that that we can't be stolen away from God's hand, that if we build a solid foundation of faith on Jesus we will be saved for eternity and that the love He has for us is Indiana corn field wide, Rocky Mountain high and Pacific Ocean deep (working hard to keep with the theme here.)
Why does understanding this mean anything? Well, for me it is the power of having that kind of trans-formative love available to me through the Holy Spirit. It has helped me forgive when I've been hurt, I watch it change and give hope to my clients when they need it most, I've seen it take the broken, weak and hurting to the confident, forgiven, and joyful.
I want to be rooted and established in all of the things that show how deep, how wide, how long and how high God's love is. I want to be known for that, not just what I'm against. Dare I say, that doesn't work. But the deepest, widest love does. I've seen it.
Feel free to join in the discussion in the comments below. How has this trans-formative love changed your life?