Rooted and Grounded

I've never gardened before, which many Burkinabé find very hard to believe. They are actually quite amazed at how little I know, especially since they have all been cultivating and gardening for as long as they can remember. Their very lives depend on it, and they are very good at it. 

I didn't know that you have to push dirt up around the bottom of the corn stalks as they grow to build up extra support. That's why all my corn stalks fell down when we had a nice big rain with heavy winds. So I went out and stood them all back up and pushed dirt up around the bottom.

When I tell this story, the Africans laugh. 

But then they also understand when they hear Ephesians 3:16-17, which talked about being "rooted and grounded" in God's love. If we don't put our roots down deep into God's love, we fall over when the winds and rains of life come. But if we build up his love like a base around the bottom of our souls and cultivate his love in our lives, then even the strongest storm will not be able to break or even bend us. 

The passage continues to talk about how long and wide and high and deep God's love is for us in Jesus Christ. Try to measure the sky with a ruler or the ocean with a cup. We are swimming and soaring in a vast expanse of God's love for us. Thank God we don't have to measure it; we just get to bask in it and worship him for it. 

May we know this love, which surpasses knowledge, that we may filled to the measure with all the fullness of God. 

And may we push this amazing love of Jesus Christ up around us, cultivating his love around the very base of our lives, and pushing our roots down deep into him.