community, culture, and conversation with Jason Kotarski

“Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.” –Ephesians 1:4, The Message

photo by Flint River Watershed Coalition

Lisa and I sat in bed last night reading through my old Live Journal. It was very fun to go back to September of 2002 and see how things began to unfold in our relationship. I can remember how much I thought about her, talked about her, and thought about being with her. I had settled on Lisa as the focus of my love. The more I got to know her, the more I wanted to do nice things for her. I mean, I drove to Chicago every other week, and one time I even spent $5 on a Coke just so I could hang out with her.

As we grew together as a couple, my life changed. I had a shift in priorities. I was interested in things I never thought I would give a rip about. I made some sacrifices. I was doing my best to move towards love. It was a very exciting time in my life.

When I think about how much I love Lisa, and then read a verse like the one from Ephesians that I posted above, I can’t help but be in awe of God. As I was riding my bike this morning, I looked around at the beauty that was surrounding me. The wind was blowing the leaves, the trees were dropping buds, and the river was pushing little sticks and twigs along and it was pretty amazing. But in spite of all the beauty of the created world, God chose us as the focus of his love. He gave us the honor of joining him to extend his love to the living things we find around us.

What makes this so amazing? The trees and the leaves can’t hurt God’s feelings, they can’t let him down, they just do what they do. Humans on the other hand, well, we sure know how to screw things up. But he keeps loving us and he keeps his focus on us as the object of his love. When I screw up with Lisa, she still loves me, too. Looking at how my life has changed over the past few years as I have grown in my relationship with Lisa and with God, I am so thankful for the way that God uses the people around me to teach me about who he is. Being married has taught me a lot about the unconditional love that God has for us. I hope to continue to narrow my focus on God and his creations as the object of my love.