I’ll spare you the details, but while I was camping a couple of weeks ago, I lost power to my camper during a couple of days of cold rain. I used to like to “rough it” when camping, but as I’ve aged, I’ve enjoyed having a place to plug in my coffeepot, get a little heat when it’s cold, and lights that don’t require pumping a Coleman lantern. With this electrical failure, I had none of these and I spent several hours researching electrical stuff.
Not coincidentally, I was also well into a nine-month journey through the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises and one of the passages to pray through was Ephesians 3:14-19:
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The words that the Holy Spirit highlighted for me from sitting with this passage were “power”, and “grounded in love.” Usually, the image that comes up for me with this passage is one of gardening, and the word I normally gravitate to is “rooted.” But because my experiences during those days had to do with electricity, I’m sure God wanted to use what was going on with me currently to show me something new. That’s what he wants to do with all of us.
What I learned about electricity in my simple way of seeing it was that electrical grounding is needed to reduce interferences and static and to stabilize the current. I learned that when a current is connected to a good ground it tends to be stabilized regardless of other factors. It provides protection.
What I saw from contemplating the scripture along with my current experience was that if I want to have inner power so that Christ’s fullness is obvious in my life, I need to be grounded in love.
So, how do I know if I’m grounded in love? That well-known passage from I Corinthians 13 gives us a blueprint:
Love is patient and kind;
love is not envious or boastful;
love is not arrogant or rude;
love doesn’t insist on its own way;
love is not irritable or resentful;
it doesn’t gloat over someone’s mistakes, but really likes to see and hear only truth;
love endures.
Notice that nothing in that passage talks about feelings of affection. We can choose to drive our stake into these actions or attitudes regardless of how we feel. Feelings run along the current of love and can be motivators for powerful action IF we are grounded in love.
If I want to test myself to see if I have a stabilized grounding in love, how would I go about that? By examining my thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Because this is new to many of us and we are living in real time where life comes at us fast, we may have to start by looking back over the day consistently. As we begin to notice triggers where we lose our grounding the easiest, or patterns of responses to these triggers, we become skilled in real-time awareness. Over time, our awareness in the moment grows and we lose our grounding less and less frequently or at least get back in line more quickly.
Love is the ideal grounding point for us to plug our energy into for the day or season of life in which we find ourselves.
Grounding Practice:
· Today, what thoughts occupied most of my mind for most of the day?
· If I were to chart my emotions today, where would the high and low points be? What was going on during those times?
· What did I do today? And how did I go about it?
· Now spend time looking at these thoughts, feelings and behaviors through the lens of love: patience, kindness, humility, serenity, walking in truth. This is not to be done with a spirit of shame, self-judgment or condemnation. Bring what you find to Jesus. Sit in his presence and receive his healing light.