By: Laura Callaghan
One of my earliest memories as a child is getting lost in the Right House department store at the Brantford Mall. One minute I was clinging to my mother’s skirt, the next lost in the circular racks of dresses that I soon discovered weren’t attached to a pair of maternal legs.
A moment of terror, until I was found. As I got older with children of my own, I would write my name and contact number on little forearms, in case of unexpected separation. In essence, in case my child runs off in a moment of tantrum, excitement, chaos or wonder, or whose parent gets distracted for a second, if this little one is found, I am claiming them. They are a Callaghan, they belong to me and I do (usually) want them back.
I thought about this in light of our Father. See my Father doesn’t write with sharpie on my arm, but has marked me by His blood. He inscribes His covenant on my heart. As Paul describes, “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of the human heart” (2 Cor 3:3).
What is even more astounding, is that that He has not only placed His mark upon me, but He has engraved my name upon Himself. Isaiah 49:15,16,“ Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold I have engraved you on the palms of my hands, your walls are continually before me.” I am blown away by the depth of His love, His redeeming claim of me. My inheritance is in Him, not because I deserved it, but simply because I belong to Him.
The irony is the longer I live in this world, the less I recognize it, the less I belong. And to be honest there is anxiety in navigating a world where I feel turned around, often unable to understand the times (perhaps that is just getting older) where things that were always certain things, are now unsure. It is, as I reflect, not unlike the feeling of being lost in the back of the Right House. But the more lost I feel in this terrestrial space, the greater comfort, greater joy, greater humility, greater assurance, the greater and bolder desire to share, the simplest and yet most profound truth that matters when one is lost, and that is, to whom I belong? And I belong to Jesus.
Brooke Ligertwood – I Belong to Jesus (Dylan’s Song) (Live)
There is written in the Book of Life
And on the palm of Jesus’ hand
In the story of redeeming love
There I recognize my name
On the day I chose to trust in Him
When I turned from death to life
He was waiting with a robe and ring
And now I can testify
I belong, I belong
I belong to Jesus
He is my rock My strength, my song
Yes, I belong to Jesus
When it’s clear the world is not my home
Or if I forget it’s not
May He turn my eyes upon Himself
So it’s Him for whom I long
When the brokenness of sin surrounds
When people fail and leaders fall
Still, the Lord will be my hiding place
I am safe upon the rock
For I belong, I belong
Yes, I belong to Jesus
He is my rock
My strength, my song
Yes, I belong to Jesus
Yes, I belong to Jesus
Everything the Father gives
Everything that Jesus paid for
Is my inheritance
All because I belong to Him
Anything the world could give
Anything that Earth can offer
Has no comparison
All because I know
That I belong, I belong to Jesus
