A Prayer about Being Rooted and Grounded in Love

…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… Ephesians 3:17-18

Father God

As we see plump, juicy tomatoes growing on the vine 

(not in my yard, but in my son-in-law’s), 

we recognize that good gardeners know 

they need rich, fertile soil 

to grow strong, healthy plants. 

You’ve designed us the same way, 

and the absolutely essential ingredient 

for healthy growth as a Christian is 

love. 

When we are rooted in it, grounded in it, 

by your Gardener-Spirit, 

we grow strong and healthy. 

Because your love is so overpowering 

and incomprehensible to us—mere humans, 

we need your strength to comprehend it—

no measuring tape or smart phone app can reach 

far enough, long enough, deep enough, or wide enough, 

to measure your love. 

Not even the string theory physicists 

can comprehend it, 

for it “surpasses knowledge.” 

Only by your Spirit working in us 

can we know the love of Christ. 

So Lord, we ask, 

please please renew our minds and hearts 

so that we can grasp it 

and grow in it and be filled with all your fullness, 

that we may bear the fruit of love

 in your glorious kingdom.

In Jesus’ incomprehensibly loving name. Amen. 

Read Ephesians 3:14-21.