Saint Augustine once walked along the seashore, wrestling with the mystery of God’s nature…how God, who is Infinite, could ever be known by his own finite mind. As he pondered, he noticed a small child digging a hole in the sand and running back and forth from the ocean with a seashell, pouring water into the tiny pit. Augustine asked, “What are you doing?” The child replied, “I’m trying to put the whole ocean into this hole.”

Augustine smiled and said, “But that’s impossible!”
The child looked up and answered, “I know. It’s like trying to put all of God into my head.”

Whether the story is literal or legendary, the truth is undeniable: God is too big for our minds, but He desires to dwell in our hearts. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 is not that we would understand God fully, but that we would make room for Christ to dwell fully…strengthening us, settling us, and satisfying us with His fullness.

This is the heart of today’s message: How does the God who is bigger than the universe make His home in a human heart? How can something as vast as God fit into something as limited as us? How can the One who holds the oceans in the hollow of His hand dwell in a heart that is often cluttered, crowded, and conflicted?