Taking heed to the call "Come out a little deeper"

In relating, one to another, it is rare to attain relationships of depth. Some have no one in their lives who can speak into the deep places in their heart, psyche, fears, joys, etc. I have a lot of friends like these, and feel blessed for the glut of relationships I have in my life. But I know it isn't always easy to see into me. I am a somewhat reserved fellow who uses stories and well articulated thoughts and metaphors to generate the appearance of vulnerability. The thing about relating, one to another, is that it must be mutual. I have a lot of friends who can see into me, but only so many that I have taken the time and effort to look into them.

I guess that means that there is some selfishness left over in my way of doing friendship that is still self-seeking and concerned more with how I feel about things than I am about how those around me are doing.

If this is so, and if I recognize it, then there is no longer any excuse for carrying on this way. So what do I do to end this trend? Who are those people into whom I want to look? Whom is there in my life who needs a person like me to come along side them and actively seek out this level of relationship? I mean obviously one does not barge in to this type of thing, forcing relationship on one another. Instead there is an obviously connection, an attraction at a soul level, like two magnets, drawn together from the inside. Not like an attraction on a carnal level, like two dogs who want to sniff each other's butts, drawn only to sensual things.

Lately I have been noticing this type of concern, on my part, and on the part of my friends. Our relationships are beginning to go deeper than the surface, our conversations of greater and greater honesty and vulnerability. My friend Andrew and I, for example have recently found common ground in talking about the opposite sex, and have plumbed greater depths of ourselves by not limitting the conversation to the superficial, obvious things, instead hitting some of the deeper issues within ourselves. And that's only one example.

Another friend and I were discussing life, the universe, time, annointing, and I found within myself a deep concern for their state of being. I didn't know for sure, but I felt in my spirit maybe, that they were having a bit of a tough time continuing their upward ascent into the things of God.

I got this picture, and I sure hope they don't mind me sharing it here, of a deep sea diver rising from the ocean's floor toward the surface of the water. After rising a great distance the diver stopped at about 10 feet beneath the surface. I felt as though this was a moment in which the diver had to choose to keep looking up. To look down could be a distraction (gosh, I sure have come a long way) but all of that means nothing if the diver does not break the plane of the surface, persist for that last few feet.

I think this works in a Kingdom of God way, where it is no good to come most of the way, then become complacent, as in the Kingdom of God, one never runs out of new heights to attain to, if they keep their eyes upward. Imagine breaking the plane of the ocean, swimming in the natural all that way, reaching the surface, taking a deep breath of salt air, and then looking up into the clouds. Then the voice of God calls you higher still, saying, why not keep coming up? Come see what it's like on the other side of these clouds! Then you begin to rise even higher, even though it is imposisible on your own.

Maybe in a way the opposite metaphor is true, in that you must not stop at having your ankles covered, but must persist, even if the water feels cold, or the river is rushing a little faster than you are prepared for. Submerged, that's the place to be, all His. It's the place to be, and it's the thing to do. Even now, as I type I can hear Him calling me "Won't you be all mine? Come out a little deeper."