“Therefore, being rooted and grounded in love, be filled up to all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 4:17-20

How practiced are you at living each day in the love God has for you? Are your girls (and boys) learning to recognize expressions of His love? Are they confident in God’s goodness?

In Ephesians 4: 17-20, Paul likens our awareness of God’s love to a tree’s root system. The “fullness” of our branches depends on how well developed our root system is. Put another way, until we are firmly rooted in God’s love, we cannot be filled up to the fullness of God.

David described himself in Psalm 52:8 like this: “I am like a green olive tree thriving in the house of God, always trusting in God’s unfailing love.”

Being confident of God’s love is foundational to our health. Jesus Himself said in John 15:9 “Abide in My love” and Jude 21 tells us to “Keep yourselves in the love of God.”

About a year ago, I realized I needed some self training in rooting myself in the love God has for me. My roots were sadly under-developed~ {and I’m not talking about hair roots!}

Honestly, I didn’t know where to start. So I looked up every instance in the Bible of the word “lovingkindness.” Then I listed all the ways God expressed His lovingkindness in those passages. From there, I made general categories of the ways He demonstrates His love in daily life.

Then I began to look for those expressions in my own life.

From the examples of others in scripture (like David and the Apostle John), I learned that this is actually a spiritual discipline that must be developed. This spiritual habit carries tremendous payoffs!

Since I’ve been practicing “love” this year, I’ve tried to include in our dinner conversation talk about how God has expressed His love to us that day. In this way, I want to help train my children to daily live in the awareness of God’s love.

Here are the 4 “R’s” I am practicing with my family:

Arabah’s 4 “R’s” of being Rooted and Grounded in love:

1. Recognize daily expressions of love

3. Ruminate (ponder, meditate on them)

4. Rehearse them (tell others, sing praises, give thanks)

Then practice, practice, practice! The spiritual habit of keeping ourselves in the love of God takes time and practice…but is worth the effort.

Why not make 2012 the year of practicing “love”? Here’s a gift to get you started: Unwrapping God’s Love. Gather the kids around and work through this together…then start practicing! You are loved!

Want more ideas?

Here are suggested resources for family or personal devotional time. {Each one of these is written by a female author and each is very different. Learning how others find and express God’s love is a great way to deepen your own developing skills}

Forget Not All His Benefits: From her experiences as a wife and mother to her forty years of service as a Wycliff Bible translator for the Maxakali Indians in Brazil, Frances Popovich recounts the kindnesses of our heavenly Father.

Because He Loves Me: A powerful compilation of scripture on the love of God. Includes practical application on how to let those passages transform your life! A great resource by Elyse Fitzpatrick.

Jesus Lives: Seeing His Love in Your Life: Scripture and application written in Sarah Young’s unique style.

And this Tree of Life Journalis perfect to record in!

Finally, this Manifesto of Love (free printable for your mirror or fridge)

Photo courtesy Wrapped Gift