Scuba diving is a spectator sport for me. Diving into frigid waters clad head to toe in the most unflattering rubber suit known to mankind (seriously, no one needs to see my butt in one of those) and relying solely on a metal tube on my back to keep me alive is not my idea of fun. More like my idea of a claustrophobic underwater panic attack. No thank you. I will enjoy the gorgeous images of the treasures found from the warmth of my comfy couch where I can be surrounded by an unlimited supply of cage-free oxygen.
Pictures paint a thousand words, right? My eyes feast on technicolor schools of fish and incredible creatures only a few people out of billions have shared eye-to-eye contact. Totally the same thing as being there. And then a little niggling from the depths of my soul vibrates. It’s deep calling out for deep. OK, who am I kidding? It’s nothing like actually being there. Compared to the experiences treasured by the ones who discovered and captured these pictures, my astonishment at seeing them is a candle to the sun. Or maybe I should say a raindrop in the vast ocean?
These deep sea photographers alone can tell the harrowing stories and relive their thrill of adventure. And in the telling, no one can argue the long hours of training, the early dives into freezing temperatures, and the painful shimmying into a full-body rubber onesie was definitely worth the magnificent treasures found in the deep.
You and I are deep beings. Created in the image of a fathomless God, how could we be anything else? Is it any wonder we often feel nigglings from deep in our souls when we live our lives in shallow ways? So many of us dismiss these tiny yearnings as whims or naive childhood dreams, when in truth they are the very Spirit of God drawing us into depths of joy and contentment we never thought possible. Into a deeper revelation of Him. A deeper trust in friendships. Deeper intimacy in marriage. Deeper fulfillment in destiny. Deeper compassion for the lost and hurting of mankind.
But this going deep life does not come without work. It’s hard and it takes training to live anything other than the shallowness the world attempts to overwhelm us with. It’s humbling and it’s painful as it kicks your pride and selfishness to the curb. It takes courage to risk your ego and be vulnerable and allow others to see your butt in a scuba suit.
But the rewards of a life filled with deep soul diving are the sun to a candle of shallow living. Or maybe I should say an ocean to a raindrop?
The Fearless 365 Week Fifteen Challenge: BE FEARLESS TO GO DEEP. Take the challenge with me and let’s ask God to show us where we are living a ‘less-than’ life. Let’s pray that God's Spirit will enable us to release the easy and the shallow and grab a hold of the challenging and the deep.
Forego the texting to have the conversation that should be face-to-face.
Seek to understand your spouse in that issue that’s become the elephant in the room.
Follow those God nigglings in your heart to pursue what He really has for you, even if that means a job change, a friendship change, a habit change, a location change.
This week and next, I’m drawing closer to God in prayer and fasting because there are some areas in my life where I’ve been living in a shallow way. But I’m choosing to be fearless to go deep. If you want to join me in this season of prayer and fasting, message me. We can pray for each other and brave the depths together. And I promise I won’t laugh at what the scuba suit is doing to your butt. :)
“Dear, dear Fearless, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!”
(2 Corinthians 6:11-13, The Message Bible)
“Deep calls to deep at the thundering sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.”
(Psalm 42:7)
