Love Like an Ocean

Today’s Verse: “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the 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 be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God..” Ephesians 3:17-19

I love the ocean. I love the sound of the waves, the sand in my feet, and the smell that reminds me that I’m on God’s turf. I love the beauty I find there…the shells, the beached wood, starfish, and even the seaweed.

We have some treasured family moments at the ocean. Times that I went there as a kid, and then the moments when I took my own children. Every memory priceless.

Spring break of 2007 was one of my favorites. My family of four was staying at a little cabin that is a part of Twin Rocks Friends Camp that week. It’s almost right on the beach! I was needing to spend some time studying for a retreat I was going to be speaking at, so my husband was ushering the kids out the door for a morning walk on the beach, when I said, “Look for ways God is showing you He loves you this morning.” An hour passed, when my kids came running into the cabin, with pure excitement that God DID remind them of His love. And in their hands was a beautiful, unbroken sand dollar …and it was purple! My favorite color. “Mom, God loves you!” How often do you find an unbroken shell on the Oregon Coast?…much less a purple one! God’s love was evident in a precious way.

Later that evening we drove down the coastline in search of clam chowder, and found ourselves in the little town of Manzanita. We did find some of the best clam chowder in the world, but we also found something a million times better. We wanted to pass a little more time on the beach, and use the marshmallow guns the kids had purchased that day, so we pulled off, got out of the van, and began running down the beach, pelting one another with little white marshmallows. The more we began to pay attention, however, we realized that there were sand dollars everywhere! Unbroken ones. We picked up over 25 beautiful sand dollars, all the while exclaiming “God loves us!” What a beautiful lesson we all learned that day.

God loves us!

As I peer at the ocean I think of the verse in Ephesians, and the prayer that I have for my kids. It’s hard to fathom the width, the depth, and length of the ocean, but by standing on the beach looking out at the horizon, I can get a glimpse of its immensity. I pray that as my kids grow, and they have those close encounters with God (like with the sand dollars), they will begin to “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”

Praising the Lord on the beach. Niece Daria, Kyle and Alyssa...summer 2005

Lord, you love with an everlasting love, and you love unconditionally. You love my kids more than I do as their mom. You will love my kids deeper than I can ever imagine. You have loved them before they were ever a thought in my mind. I pray, Lord, that they will experience the love you have for them in ways that will cause them to rest in that love, believe in that love, and live in that love. May they always know and believe that they are loved. Especially when they go through days where they question what they were made for, or if their friends will stick by them, or if their parents love them. May they begin to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is Your love for them!