This post is part of a 31 day journey. See the rest of abide: love where you live right here.

Has someone trampled for you what it means to belong? We serve a God of all grace and 2nd, 10th, 50th chances. He keeps all of his found and safe and warm ones under the shelter of His wings. But. He seeks out the lost and broken. His tender heart longs to find the wanderer, the one who is limping from heart wounds and desperate for a sip of water.

God defines belonging. He says it is being known to the core and carrying a home sense close to the heart. It’s loving and being loved sacrificially and abundantly. It’s sinking into that same old spot. It’s sitting close. Belonging is knowing that you are safe enough to fail and to give glimpses of your heart and to be messy and to share a bit of your crazy.

Belonging is not competition and comparison and lists and performing. You can not perform or best your way into this deep, down rest. Belonging doesn’t involve striving. You can rest from that. And it is hard, I know. But you can grow and you can move on and you can choose to let God build abiding into your life.

Wherever you show up? Your home, your office, your room, your school, your job; all these things give you an opportunity to abide. So for today, let’s choose less striving. Let’s ask God to show us where He is offering belonging in Himself and through others. Let’s ask Him to help us  offer in our stretched out hands a sense of home and rest that others need, too.