Grounded in love

        Many people might associate the idea of “being grounded” with thunderstorms and lightening in the heavens. My mother had a genuine fear of lightening and shrieked her way through many a storm. I would say I developed a healthy fear—well, maybe not entirely healthy—of how dangerous it could be out in a storm with those bold strikes of lightning roaring overhead. I learned that “being grounded” by a lightning rod or some such object could conduct the electricity in lightning into the ground and away from damaging a building or other structure. There wasn’t an absence of lightning and danger—just a protection from its potential harm.

        In today’s world, all kinds of things—ideas, beliefs, theories, isms—clamor for our attention and possible allegiance. People speak very confidently about their thinking on this or that controversial issue. Some march against or vehemently support opposite opinions about gun rights, abortion, gay marriage and many other issues. Cable news stations broadcast programs with people spouting all kinds of ideas and confident assertions, hour after hour, day after day.

        Like a house in a lightening storm, I think we need to be grounded by something that will protect us from the danger of believing just about anything we read or hear. If we believe in the authority of the Bible as the word of God, this would seem to be a way of being grounded. But even people who are familiar with the scriptures can pull various verses to support opposing viewpoints on social issues and understandings of God’s will in our lives. 

        I am reminded of what Paul wrote to the Ephesians in a prayer for them: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to . . . know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:17-19). The idea of being rooted and grounded in love seems to be a consistent theme throughout the Bible. The greatest commandments were not the ten written on stones but the simple instructions about love in both the new and old testaments. The exhortation was to love God and your neighbor as yourself. And the depth of this love required all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Only “in God” could such a love exist. God’s living presence within us can draw us toward this grounding love and away from what pulls on our emotional responses or human reasoning.

         Yes, we are often tempted to think and act in ways that depart from this love God calls us to be rooted and grounded in. But it is selfless love that should be the distinctive, steadying quality for Christians in any time at any place no matter what dangers flash overhead. 

Beginnings and possibilities

            Both of our children left St. Louis to begin programs in graduate schools at cities—one as far away as New York--where they knew no one.   That kind of change makes everything new.  I, on the other hand, have lived in St. Louis my entire life except for three years in college.  Even when I went to Mizzou, I knew a few people there, including my older brother and his girlfriend.  However, with all this stability in my adult life, I have felt a bit of being “the new person” at a new job or a new neighborhood or a new church or activity.  It is not a feeling I particularly enjoy.  Clearly, my children have not gotten their courage and drive from me!

            The last few months I have remembered some of the reasons why I don’t like being new.   I have again become someone new in a couple situations, one being the exercise class I “checked out” just last week.  As I was mulling over (what I refer to as “mental whining”) the disadvantages of such situations, I believe God brought back an encouraging memory of my experience as a college senior.  Unlike many people I knew at the time who started college at UMSL back in its infancy in the late 60s, I spent three years at Mizzou and then returned to St. Louis to finish at UMSL and do my student teaching here.

            I do not have a lot of specific memories about this time or that, but I have a very clear memory of one of my first days at UMSL, my new school.  At some point, I went to the girl’s restroom and had a little meltdown in one of the stalls.  Our three- year- old grandson has  occasional meltdowns which do seem more justified.  But, this change of school led to a friendship, and that new friend arranged for me to have a blind date with another student teacher who was her boyfriend’s friend, and this man would become my husband.  He and I celebrated our 40^th anniversary just last summer, and these same friends were kind enough to invite us to dinner to mark the occasion.  We should have been treating them!

            I think God reminded me of this experience from many years ago as an encouragement to look forward and anticipate good possibilities.  Some years ago a prayer attributed to Mother Theresa made the rounds in people’s emails.  One of the lines that has stuck with me speaks volumes about the expectations we can have as Christian people:  “May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.”  Trusting God, seeking out His providential hand of guidance in our lives, can create hopes and expectations outside of what seems humanly possible.  The Bible is full of amazing God-given expectations coming to fulfillment.  Abraham and Sarah looked for that child of promise, David believed he could win over Goliath through God’s power, Paul expected a deliverance from the terrible storm at sea for himself and his men—the list could go on and on.

            I was also reminded that “small beginnings” (Zech. 4:10) in the hands of God can lead to blessings, possibilities beyond our greatest hopes.  Again, God encourages me to be patient and remember that new endeavors and activities can lead to wonderful gifts and blessings.

 

Enough and then some

               My husband and I have stayed in a number of Bed and Breakfasts over the years, and we have definitely had all kinds of experiences, some expected, some not.  At the end of June, we met longtime friends from Omaha, Nebraska, in Kansas City for a couple nights in part observing our June wedding anniversaries.  My husband did the “advance work” and found a Bed and Breakfast in a big, old house in the northern part of the city.  There were three rooms available: two smaller bedrooms with a shared bath and one larger area with a large bedroom, separate bath and a room with a sitting area and a pool table.  We chose the smaller bedrooms to save money.

               Before we arrived, my husband called the owners for some information.  Since the time we booked the rooms, a young man had come to stay with them while waiting for an apartment.  He was given the small bedroom, so we were “bumped up” to the large, third story area at no extra charge.  That turned out to be even better than expected.  The men played several rounds of pool, and we all enjoyed visiting in the sitting area.  The second day of our stay, we drove to Independence to visit the Truman Library.  After an interesting tour of it, we headed back and happened upon the old corner drugstore where Truman worked as a teenager.  How could we pass up a historically significant place to eat ice cream? 

               This little trip illustrates something about how generous God can be with us, often giving us even more than we ask for.  Recently, I heard a teaching on the healing of the paralytic man that stressed the fact that he was given more than he or his friends even expected.  The friends took him to Jesus for healing, and some friends they were.  When the crowd kept them from getting into the house where Jesus was, they went up on the roof and lowered him down.  These people weren’t taking no for an answer.  But Jesus, seeing their faith, first granted the man forgiveness for his sins (Mathew 9:1-8).  Then he provided what they were seeking as he healed the man, telling him to “take up your bed and go to your house.”      

               Having experiences beyond even our good expectations—like our trip to Kansas City—are helping me to better understand the overflowing lovingkindness of God.  He has an abundant supply, and He is most gracious and generous in His responses to our prayers and petitions.  Jesus is the giver of more than enough.  When He fed the 5,000, there were leftovers, right?