11.27.22

This past Spring, we were in a team building session with Marquette Lacrosse, and the players were asked to share what they appreciated about other members of the team. During that session, one of our Freshman, Will Foster, shared something which has been tattooed on my heart ever since. When it was his turn to share, he graciously professed, very calmly, “I want to thank our upperclassman for being so welcoming to us Freshmen. When we got here, it felt like we had already been here.”

Will’s token of gratitude came across as almost a sigh of relief. He was speaking directly to the idea of belonging. What struck me yesterday (while I was driving of course), was that belonging has two elements to it, and one directly impacts the other. Belonging is first vertical, then it becomes horizontal – and I’ve witnessed this truth through Will.

The belonging Will was speaking to was the vertical. Vertical belonging is our identity. In collegiate athletics, so much has to be earned – playing time, good grades, wins, accolades, and much more. What Will felt when he arrived at Marquette, was his identity as a member of the lacrosse family, was no longer something to be earned. He was immediately loved and accepted by his teammates.

Once we have a vertical identity, it sparks our horizontal belonging: living freely and joyfully in all areas of life (jobs, families, sports, hobbies, ect). Horizontal belonging also includes our ability to make others feel like they belong. Will Foster belongs horizontally in many ways; he is a difference maker in multiple clubs and groups on campus, he is a welcoming teammate, he’s consistently a leader in community service, and he has a refreshing authenticity to his walk of life. Even as a Freshman, it didn’t take long for anyone who knows Will to witness his joy.

I think the most powerful form of vertical and horizontal belonging is found in Jesus. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus offers an identity as a dearly loved child of God – the vertical belonging. This identity frees us from our constant yearning to earn God’s love, resulting in a joy to belong and to reflect our belonging horizontally in all areas of our lives.

Knowing whose I am and what I was created to be allows me to be authentic, because I am loved and accepted as I am. Belonging to Jesus allows me to strive for greatness because I abide in what Jesus has already done for me. Vertical belonging also frees me to love those around me because I’m not comparing or measuring… I’m just belonging because I already belong.

“But you are a chosen people, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” – 1 Peter 2:9