Immersed In Christ

Galatians 3:27 - For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.*


Our friend Kim is recovering from just having a baby. How she will recover from raising three boys will be fodder for her own blog for years to come.

Not long before Samuel Elias made his debut, Kim emailed this lovely picture to me titled Sweet Girl. I looked at it today and saw my heart. I woke wanting to wrap myself in a mystery, wanting to strip off the outer layers of my life and dive to the bottom of the Ocean that is Christ and take a cleansing breath. I wanted to feel all that is Christ flooding and filling all my desperately un-full places.

Christ-hunger.

Sweet Girl pecked at my shell and said, "Kathy, jump into the dish!"

I imagine that she landed on the deck rail and cautiously sampled a few far flung seeds. Then she moved a bit closer, casting about a sharp eye for competition or danger. A few more delicious seeds and the bounty became overwhelming. At last we see her feet buried in the irresistible goodness inside of its source.

How is it that a bird understands what eludes us?

The occasional seed distant from the source is tasty but it was never meant as our only nourishment. It was intended to draw us closer to immersion. We are wooed to be immersed daily, completely and gratefully into the bounty of Christ. To cease concern for competition or danger and just jump into the dish.

Fill us today, Lord, with all your great, gasping mystery- with your immense, bountiful goodness- with your soul satisfying communion. Fill us with yourself. We, like hungry birds, come into your hand.

Selah


* The Greek preposition eis "into" used in this scripture tells us that our baptism is not simply into water (a symbol) but into Christ Himself.


Special thanks to Kimberly Lorentzen for her Sweet Girl. Special congratulations to the entire Schulz-Lorentzen family on the birth of their Sweet Boy, Samuel Elias.