“… And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”       Ephesians 3:17 – 19 (NIV)

Deep and Wide … Consider these two terms. What comes to mind? 

To me, deep are my troubles. I sometimes find myself over my head. ‘Up to my ears in alligators’ so to speak…up to my knees in mundane tasks, or I’ve just had it up to here!

Wide? Wide are my hips! Wide is the gap I feel between me and my spouse, family, and friends when I feel isolated by my concerns.

Today, when I think of deep and wide I tend to think of the things I find overwhelming. The things I find myself drowning in. The things pulling me under. The things swallowing me whole; however, there was a time when the meaning was different.

As a child there was a song we sang at church and in youth group about God’s love… Deep and Wide. You may know it. It goes like this:

Deep and wide, deep and wide
There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.
Deep and wide, deep and wide 
There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXHJg6Y53Oo

We would repeat this verse getting faster and faster and sometimes we sang it over and over eliminating more words with each repetition putting in hmmm so that at the end we were merely humming the tune. The song came with fun hand motions as well. Very upbeat and fun.

So simple. Definitely uplifting.

In reading Ephesians 3:17-19, I realize this should be the focus. Instead of how deep are my troubles… The depth and breadth of God’s love.

Deep … The love of my family and friends. The depth of my love for others.

Wide … How wide are my blessings?! The width of the arms that encircle me with love. 

Instead of finding ourselves overwhelmed by the worldly, temporary things that threaten to consume us, we need to be overwhelmed by the love given to us – first by our Lord and Savior and then through others by Him.

Deep and Wide – there is a fountain overflowing onto you!

Up to my ears in alligators? No way. Up to my ears in Hallelujahs!