Rooted and Grounded part 4
When something gets you deep inside, that's what you always fall back on. That's why it's so important to train up a child in the way he should go. That's why it's so important to be rooted and grounded in love. The surface stuff tries to knock you off your feet. And no one can hit harder than life. But we know that the just man (Jesus) may fall seven times (the number of perfection) but He gets up every time. And we know that His fall (or His death--OUR death--on the cross) led to Him rising. He laid His life down so He could take it back up. So He could give it to us. So that we, through the Holy Spirit, could know and believe the love that God has for us. The love that God IS in us, and through us, and as us. Jesus fell, so to speak, so that He could keep us from falling. He gave us the measure of faith by giving us something (love) to believe in. That's why He's our Rock. Our foundation. That's why when we stand on Him--on the truth that Daddy loves us immaculately and unconditionally--we cannot be shaken. Let me say it like this: When we know where we come from we can also know where we're going. We can learn from the past--instead of letting it define us, or hold us back--and we can move forward; upward and God-ward. And here's the coolest part: When we're rooted and grounded in love... where we start is WHERE we end! It's love, love, and more love. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. Which means LOVE is the Alpha and Omega. LOVE is the beginning and the end. Because God is love. Because Jesus is God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. And when you know and believe that He lives in you--that LOVE lives in you--that's when your roots start to show. That's when what's inside comes out. When you fill yourself with the fulness of God by testing out the height, and depth, and breadth, and length of His love by USING that love on other people. We feel most loved when we are loving others. We experience the gift we've been given when we share it. But it all flows down from the source. We love because we ARE loved. That's our foundation. That's where we start. Where we HAVE to start. That's how we train up our kids in the way we should go. Not by putting demands--heavy yokes that they can't possibly carry--on them. But by loving them. Baptizing them in Jesus' name. Immersing them in the nature of Jesus. And His nature... is the love nature. You can't give what you don't have. So we have to start letting people know what they DO have. Not telling people what to do, but telling people who they are! And who they are is God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. When you KNOW that, you stop trying to ACT like that and you start resting in your true identity. You stop trying to be someone you're not and you start to embrace who you are. And then you're able to embrace others. All of a sudden you can obey the New Commandment. You can love others as Jesus loves you. Because you're rooted and grounded IN His love!