Ephesians 1

i really love summer days. and, though I often grieve my kids not-being-so-little anymore,

I will say, ages 6 and 8 are good ages.

I can say stuff like "go get your swimsuits on", and, well, they DO. ;-)

 last week, during one of these fun summer days,

 a casual play-date turned not-so-casual.

and I learned my lesson:

never NOT wear my swimsuit to the pool with the kids.

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I just started reading through and studying Ephesians with a friend,

and chapter 1 has my heart overflowing. 

the selection of the Father, the sacrifice of the son, the seal of the Holy Spirit...

just 14 verses hold such deep theological truth.

truth as in, 

we have been predestined.

Predestined = marked out before hand.

before the foundation of this world -

before the beginning, there was a beginning, and we were chosen. Chosen to be adopted as sons through Christ. nothing we have done, nothing we could ever do - 

just His supreme sovereignty chose us.

In that predestination, we have been redeemed and forgiven.

Redeemed has the language of slave trading - we have been traded from a life of sin, a life of slavery to the bonds of that sin, to sons and daughters of the Almighty King, with an eternal inheritance.

we have been redeemed.

{Redeemed!}

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Last week, at that playdate, our kids were happy and playing.

my sweet 6-year-old went to the shallow end, 

and that's where my mistake happened.

sure, sweetie, you can take your floaties off.

the floaties always stay on. 

she happily played in the shallow end.

then she and a friend decided to hang on to the edge of the pool and work themselves around the perimeter. the perimeter of the pool, including the deep end.

  about 20 feet away, I yelled to her -

you don't have your floaties on! hang on to the edge.

I turned my head and then a second later turned back to her,

and all-in-an-instant my 6-year-old is in the middle of the deep end,

arms swirling above her head, eyes wide.

I am instantly at the edge.

Grace! come to the edge! 

her eyes bigger, simultaneously gulping air and water, barely afloat,

she shakes her head at me. 

She can't get to the edge.

and with out a second thought,

without thinking about whether or not my phone is in my pocket or not,

or if I should take my fairly-new-probably-shouldn't get-chlorine-on-it white cardigan off or not,

I am in that pool.

I am in that pool fully clothed, 

not caring about anything except for the fact that my precious girl cannot get her head above water.

my arms circle around her, pulling her up.

she coughs and then cries.

she's scared.

so scared that she didn't get off my lap the rest of the time at the pool. she was the first to leave the pool, the first to get her swimsuit off, the first to sit on my lap during dinner.  She wanted her momma's reassurance.  

and her momma needed her precious girl close, too. 

took me a full evening to calm down from that close call!

and as I read Ephesians and read REDEEMED,

I imagine the God of the universe, standing by the edge of that pool for my own life,

and before I even realized I am drowning in my spiritual state,

He jumped in. He didn't even blink an eye, didn't check to see if there were any other better prospects to save...He jumped in my pool,

and rescued me from my spiritual drowning.

to the praise of His glorious grace.

and now, my heart begs me to ask,

am I living like this?

am I living like I have been redeemed?

Or am I inching my way back around the perimeter of that pool, seeing how close I can get to the deep end of sin  - without fully drowning...

not knowing that that deep end is  pull me under before I can do anything about it, and I will soon be gulping and gasping for air?

am I living like I have been redeemed? forgiven? bought with a price? Am I so sensitive to the Spirit's leading in my life? Am I so sensitive to sin that my be lurking?

am I living like the God of Angel Armies jumped in after me? 

Am I the first person to cling to my Abba Father, not wanting to leave His side, 

but feeling safety in His presence?

I hope so.

I hope you are, too.

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if you'd like to follow along, grab your Bible and study Ephesians 1 this week! come back and comment...I'd love to read them and see what your thoughts are.