Preparing to Enter the Ring

In a recent exchange with my mentor, I was talking about the practice of daily Morning Prayer and I likened it to being like a boxer who, after getting pounded, goes to the corner where the trainer pours water on the head and gives guidance on how to get back into the center and hold up against the blows of the opponent and land a few good ones for a knock out, too.

I am the boxer. God is the trainer. The Scriptures are the guidance. Ding! Ding! Ding! Go!!

I got a good dose of that, I felt, this morning when reading the passage from Ephesians:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power 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, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.--Ephesians 3:14-19

"The breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge..." Those words remind me of a song that Brian Eno and David Byrne have on the album "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts". They recorded a preacher who was paraphrasing the Psalmist:

"He's so low you can't get under him! He's so high you can't get over him! He's so wide you can't get around him! If you make your bed in Heaven, He's there! If you make your bed in Hell, He's there! He's EVERYWHERE!"

And, for some reason on this day, that infinity of God and that unbounded Love was just the statement I needed to enjoy my day, half of which was spent with my partner. Besides our lunch date, what we did was pretty pedestrian. We did some food shopping, went to the bank, stopped by my office to unload some clean sheets, and then just chilled at home. In the back of my mind, I thought, "This is the way to show forth our love for one another. Just enjoy being together, without an agenda." In many respects, I think this might be how God sees us, too. Sometimes, it just feels nice to enjoy the time together without needing to put on a show of love because the love simply is. All we have to do is chill, and let it be in our hearts.