You know what I love most about the Twelve Acre Woods? The twelve acres. Seriously. Before we lived out here in God’s Country, we lived in a subdivision on a standard 1/5 acre lot. We were surrounded by neighbors, some really good ones, and some…less good, if you know what I mean. We lived near the subdivision entrance, so there were cars coming in, cars going out all the time. At one point we had a hive of drug dealers up the street. Of the half dozen or so occupants, the oldest was 19. My wife and the lady next door turned into Cagney and Lacey collecting information for the local police like license plates and what times various individuals came and went.
Then our little town of maybe twenty thousand people decided to start hosting a St. Patrick’s Day fun-run and parade. It gained popularity quickly and within a couple of years, we had upwards of 80,000 people converging on us. The town made no provisions for where these people could park, how law enforcement would work, or in whose backyards revelers could relieve themselves. It was basically an invasion of drunks with a fun run whose route blocked my family’s exit from this temporary hell.
Contrast this with our life on the Twelve Acre Woods. Twelve (and half) acres that belong to my wife and me. We have grassy yard areas, woods (obviously), a small pasture/cropland area and a well-proportioned perennial creek. We love and get along with all of our neighbors – they all moved out here for pretty much the same reason: to get away from subdivisions, inept teenage drug dealers, and ill-conceived holiday drunkfests.
Because this property is ours we can go out and enjoy it how we like. We have some nice trails through the woods that we like to take walks with the WonderBeagles. My boys and I have caught fish in the creek. We raise chickens for both meat and eggs, and I’m looking forward to learning about beekeeping this summer. We even go out to the limestone bluff and fire off a few target rounds at some soda cans and Amazon boxes. Here’s the point: in general, more space equals more freedom and power to live the life you want go live. Look at the words of the Apostle Paul, written to the Ephesian Christians.
‘For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’
Ephesians 3:14-19 (emphasis added)
Paul wants us to know the vast expanse of God’s love that we have to move around in. We are not restricted to a small parcel. God’s love is infinite – from as far as you can see in the east, to as far as you can see in the west, from everything behind you to everything ahead, from the furthest star to the deepest depth, that’s the love in which he has placed you. And he is not an absentee landlord. He occupies all of it!
Just as my family made a physical relocation from a confining subdivision lot the freedom of the Twelve Acre Woods, I have also made a spiritual relocation from a confining belief that, despite being saved by grace, God’s love was contingent on my right behavior. Maybe this sounds familiar. This is an exhausting way to live – constantly planning to do better, always failing, vowing next time will be better. Make a move: read Paul’s prayer again, and breathe in deeply the freedom of God’s love for you in this wide-open space!