Tag Archives: Ephesians 3

Choose your Identity

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Oh, beloveds! I’m back! I’ve missed you! It’s beeen a long time! So much has happened! Our current house has sold, and we’ve got the keys to our new one! We haven’t “officially” moved in yet, so we are bouncing between the two locations. We are in transition. Homeless with two homes. Camping out at the new house, and on bare essentials at the old house. Boxes are everywhere. I’m feeling a little lost when it comes to my identity. I’m not sure if I am still a city girl or a country bumpkin in the making. We haven’t had a “summer” yet because we are still doing all the things required for transitions… so no relaxation for us! It’s coming. When we get there.

We got the keys!

I suppose the world we live in talks a lot about transitions. Jobs. Moving. Identity based on where you see yourself. Gender identity – now there’s a hot one. Goal setting. Personal achievements. Past achievements. At the risk of sounding philosophical, identity is very complex. I’m not sure it is all simple DNA. Even from a science girl. I don’t think it’s about your skillset either. I’m not sure it’s as easy as picking your character on a video game. Can we choose our identity? What does that mean? No simple answer was found for that muse, my friends. As I said, I think we humans are too complex for such a simple, one-time choice. Our identity ebbs and flows — I think. Or does it have a clear direction? Okay – enough of that musing, my brain hurts and it’s not the direction I wanted this post to go.

Still, I do want to chat about identity a little. Perhaps we need to break it down from human identity into a simpler innate object: like our new house. A few weeks ago, I wrote about giving our new property a name. A name, because names are important. They are part of that bigger identity assemblage of thoughts. You’re welcome to read about that post here. So, what did we name our new place? It’s just over 4 acres of land. About an acre and a half of that is forest. We have a chicken coop, a barn/garage/outbuilding with a loft. A pond and a pool and a garden. The house was built in the 1900s with a big ol’ wrap-around porch. It has character and I love it. It’s exceptionally quiet and I feel like I am at a retreat when I am there. It’s going to have work – for sure. It’s going to be part of mittonmusings.com – undoubtedly.

It has a Barn!

So the name? Oh. Well. As I dragged my dear husband from property to property over the last few months, this one checked all my boxes (see above). I’d been praying. The hubby kept me balanced. He reminds me that we are not farmers. I cannot have a goat (yet). I can have a few chickens but “it is not a farm”. When the purchase agreement went through, I was telling everyone we bought a farm. He reminded me “It was not a farm”. It was an old house with some property. Therefore, I can say that my hubby actually chose the name, based on the diverse identity of our land. We hereby dubb the new house:

“ITSNOTTA” Farm

Do you love it? Quirky? Dumb? Different? Not very original? All are part of the identity. You can judge. Go ahead. People judge identity all the time. They can because of that complexity we mused about in paragraph two. The apostle Paul also had to defend his identity… and the identity of those he was trying to serve. In Ephesians 3 (one of my favourite chapters by the way!) he reminds us that not only God’s chosen people are to be part of the family of God. Jews and Gentiles alike are “allowed” to be joint heirs with Christ based on their beliefs, not on their heritage. That’s one part of my identity I don’t have to question: I am a child of God. Am I a farmer? I don’t think so. Is our new property going to have a garden and some animals? Yes. But, “it’s not a” farm. And Paul was an apostle, but not a Jew. Choose your identity? That’s complex. But you can choose the next step you make in this journey. And maybe, just maybe, your steps will lead you on a path to “enjoy the promise of blessings because you belong to Christ Jesus”. Ephesians 3:6b. Then come on over to “Itsnotta” and we can chat about choosing identity over lemonade on the porch.

The rocking chair is waiting for you!

Special Verses

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Welcome back to another week of musing. I thought I’d change it up a bit this time, so instead of my usual little devotional, I’m going to share with you a couple of my favourite verses. The post may be a bit shorter, but I suppose you can never go wrong sharing God’s word. Okay, let’s go!

My first verse has been mentioned in my previous posts, so if you have been with us for any length of time, you’ve seen it before.

” But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Luke 2:19 NIV

Why do I love it? It speaks to my momma’s heart. Here was this young, teenage girl experiencing a life changing event: the birth of her firstborn. Not only would it have been typically life changing, but this birth was crazy different. The young virgin had to share the experience with her baffled betrothed boyfriend and in a barn with a bunch of smelly creatures and a collection of equally smelly shepherds. Can you imagine? Seriously, can you imagine?

Yet, Mary “treasured” these things up. Locked every detail, every sight, sound, smell into her memory. She would have been a great scrapbooker. Journaling everything in her notebook, capturing the emotion of the moment, so she could share the story later with everyone she met. Still, she pondered them. I suspect it was in a quiet moment, all alone, when Mary was finally allowed to take a second to muse about all that had just happened. And be amazed. It’s a short verse, but it packs a punch, at least for me.

My second block is intertwined in the following passage:

” For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 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, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV

This one is a long one, but also a significant one for me, as it arrived in a time in my life when I needed to know that God was a God of miracles, and that His plans were perfectly designed for me. It surfaced again recently in a study I’ve been enjoying. The memories flooded back, and I smiled. He strengthens with POWER. His love is UNMEASUREABLE. His abilities are BEYOND IMAGINATION. And it’s FOREVER. I could stop there. I’ll let the verses speak to you, as scripture always does. Amazing how that works, eh? The words speak to you, at this moment, for this time in your life, for now.

I trust you’ve been blessed by my thoughts today. Why not share your favourite verses in the comments? I’d love to hear from you and what you’ve been musing about !