Contemplative

“Best things dwell out of sight,” Emily Dickinson once wrote. It can be hard to believe what we cannot see, but so much of our life—our loves, our principles, our hopes—cannot be seen. Paul ends the letter to the Ephesians with a reminder of an invisible world beyond our vision, where good and evil struggle, and where the grace of God will ultimately win.

Paul’s second and final prayer for the people in Ephesus asks them to see that the highest ambition of our faith is to know and experience the limitless love of God. While beyond our ability to fully comprehension, God’s love holds the power to transform us at the very root of our being.

How do we deal with discouragement? How do we make sense of our suffering? Paul interrupts himself in this very autobiographical and pastoral segment to share the secret to these age-old struggles.

If actions speak louder than words, then God is always speaking. Prayer teaches us to listen. We sit with God in our present, and we trust him with our future, because of his faithfulness in the past.