” Deeper Still “

• Not The Only One!
• Post#82
• 1 Jun 23    
•                       ” Deeper  Still”
• Howdy!
• Thanks  for checking in,  and let’s see what turns up ☺️. Have  you ever  found yourself  in a situation,  a predicament, ,ok, something  that was just  a straight  up mess.? You weren’t  really  sure how you got there, but before  you knew it, you  found  yourself  deeper in  it and it’s more than  knee deep or even  waist deep,  and it’s beginning to creep up around  your  neck,  and uncomfortable  doesn’t  even  begin  to describe it  at all. They  say  that hind sight is  always  20/20, but how come we can’t  see  it, while we  are  in the throws of  it?. It’s always  after the fact  that  we can  see the  damage that we  do to ourselves and  to others  as well.  We look  back and say to ourselves ” what the hell was thinking ?”. No one is immune to  it  ,happens to   all  of us  at one time or the other, and it’s not even about  intelligence or  the  lack there of. I  think that  we just  have  those moments when  our brain  is out to lunch,  or we have  our guard  down., and we find ourselves in  a  place or situation , that is  not representative of who we normally are, and  not quite our norm. Sometimes  it  starts out as something  simple  or innocuous and  before  we know we are in panic  mode,  or we  are  in the midst of  a  cover-up of some  sort and  it’s crippling.  We  would be devastated if any one knew that I  was dating a  married man and to make it worse, he’s my boss, talk about a  compromising  position.  Perhaps you are in charge of the petty cash at work and  you just  decided to  borrow a  few bucks from  the  fund, which you  had full  intentions  on replacing,  but now you owe the fund more money than  you  can  manage to  come up with.  What if it’s something on  the lines of an ethical dilemma,  say  that  you are a doctor and you  misdiagnosis a patient and   now you  are  trying to  figure out how to back  peddle to avoid a law suit. I  think for a lot of  men, at one time or the other we found ourselves caught in  a  toxic relationship with  a crazy chick, and  you are way deeper in that one than  you  want to be, and whether you  are  trying to  figure out  how and why she has a  key to  your  place,  or perhaps she is taking  your credit card for a joy ride, way to  often,  it’s usually because the sex is hot and  you  just  aren’t  man enough to  say  no thank you, and I’m getting off of this crazy  ride here☺️☺️.   I  have  one more for you and  its how do we allow  ourselves  to  be  scammed,  by a situation that we absolutely  knew  better  than.  What is the old saying,  if it sounds to good to  be  true,  then  it  probably  isn’t  true.  Its even  worse  when  it has a romantic   element to  it and someone  is  just  toying  with  your  emotions.  Regardless of  where you find yourself  deeper  than  you want to  be , you aren’t  exactly sure when  you  had  that momentary lack in judgment.  There are  many lessons to be learned here ,but  just  prepare yourself for  it to be painful and  perhaps or probably some what embarrassing, with  a  healthy dose of humiliation.  Very few of these situations get  better if they are  not  drug out into the  light of  day. The power that they  hold over us  is  in keeping it secret and  allowing it to grow  into  something  bigger and  just  letting it  fester.  All things” deeper  still “are not necessary  negative or bad, but just like the media ,we usually  zero  in  on the bad stuff , and the things that we have a  hard time  forgiving ourselves and  others for. There is love that gets deeper with  time, and  it has the ability to  transform our lives. I remember a journey that  I embarked on over some  thirty plus years ago and it has just  gotten  deeper  still. I  call it a journey and  it  has been,  but at its core, it’s a relationship and it has taken  me  places and shown me things that I  had not previously considered on any level at all, or begin to  imagine. I  would not characterize this relationship as in good or bad,, even  though most relationships have  something about them  that are not positive.  Even  the most basic of relationships have  their  moments.  You bring a  newborn home from the  hospital,  and  you  never  knew  that  you could ever  love something so tiny,  so much , but there are days when changing  diapers,  that you ask  yourself, what have I been  feeding  this kid,  to deserve this?☺️☺️, not a positive! So it’s not a negative or positive thing,  but it can  produce both.  I  think at the heart of it, it is  transformational. It  is something that can  produce conflict and agitation, much like a caterpillar becoming a  butterfly,  or some new baby creature attempting to  break free  from  and open the  egg that is was laid in . On some level,  it  takes and shows you what is, and takes it to what it could  be. It can show you how the most incredible  love that you can  muster up , is just  the equivalent of some sort of puppy love. It can  change and reshape your whole  mental  concept as to what love actually is.  Just imagine spending your entire life thinking that you  knew  what love was , and  then  find that you were only  scratching the surface. Think of a love that is so selfless,  that you  could  never  imagine putting  your  wants and needs before the other person’s,  and I  mean  not ever, not even  once. I’m talking about the  kind of love that makes you question what you had experienced in the past, and  had thought and believed to be a deep love to now only  see it as some  sort of a fling or infatuation. I believe that true and the greatest love has been  defined for us, and  it is ,no greater love is there than  to lay down one’s life for a  friend. I  know that  there have been many anguished  parents  standing  beside a hospital bed with a sick child laying in  it, just  begging and pleading that they  could  exchange places with a  child  in deep  pain or dying.  As painful and gut wrenching as that may  be,  it isn’t equivalent to laying down  your life for a  friend.  The reason for this not being equal,  ,is because  God has  called us friends of His, when  much of the time that love is a one-way  transaction. He loves us , while  we  don’t  even  acknowledge Him.  He even says that while we were His enemies , He still  laid down His life for us. A gift on that level without  acknowledgment or appreciation is the ultimate sacrifice and  description of love. This kind of love is  “Deeper Still “, it’s the thing that  a fifty, sixty, or longer marriage points to. This kind of love is so contradictory to our world and relationships  that loves  until  it cost them  something or begins to hurt a little, then they are  out. I  was  recently talking to a friend about  how some people, just seem to  be  constantly  starting over and over again with  different partners, because they are never  willing to  do the hard work of growing and pushing through the  pain and discomfort to become  stronger, and  more grounded. God’s love states that He will  never leave or forsake you,  so it’s not about  Convenience. This kind of love stretches you, changes you, and challenges you to go deeper and to be deeper. It’s ultimate goal is to get you to see things the way that God  does, or from  His perspective.  You will  begin to  see that everyone  has value and  a purpose and that they  aren’t  just  someone standing on a corner with a  sign. You will  begin to  look at  situations and seasons, as something not being as bad as it could have been . You will  see blessings in things where other  individuals can  only  see the pain and heart ache. You will be able  to get to the end of , or to the other side  of  difficult season and  be able to  say thank You Jesus,  because while you were  bent, you didn’t  break.  You will  begin to see how hard things and seasons can  be  used by  God to  help and minister to  others.  You will begin to see how all of the scars of your life  have been  crafted into  a  beautiful tapestry,  that  resembles a masterpiece that only God  could have  painted with His fingers. In some ways I view this  relationship like  boot camp,  where  everything that  was known is stripped away,  and  you are built  back up into what the finished  product was supposed to  look like  all along. If you have never been  there,  then  perhaps  it’s  like  stripping down  an old pieces of  furniture,  that  you end up sanding  down,  lay some primer on it to prepare it  for a  new coat of varnish,  to make it into a  new  creation.  Perhaps it’s coming to  a  place in your life,  where you  begin to  question a lot of the ideas and thought parameters that  you  had acquired  as a young person at some liberal university,  and decided that  maybe they  weren’t  serving You the best.  However you got there,  you discovered that  there was more to  life than  just  looking  out for number one.  I don’t  believe that  any of us  want  to believe  that our default is about  self  preservation,  but it is, and don’t  be fooled , just  because your self has been expanded to  cover a few others  such as  children or family,  that is  still part of your self and  your  very  little own  corner of the world. When you can  learn to love without  expecting anything in return,  and that love being  focused and direct at the great  unwashed, or people  whom you don’t know and are in no position to  return or repay your kindness,  then  and only  then  will  you be at the beginning of  “Deeper Still “. Sometimes things are “known by”, such as when  a company or product is  known for  high quality or reliability.  It could also  be when  you are from  a particular ethic group,  and you  are known for  having  a large nose,  or fuller lips, and yes there is a thin line between being  known by and a stereotypes  ☺️☺️. My point  here is that some kids are known for  looking  just like  their  mother  or father,  or a  random  sibling ☺️. As we go “Deeper Still ” , we should begin to  resemble and look more like our Heavenly  Father.  We should  be  known by and for our love, for our ability to be able to  forgive.  We should be  known for our ability to  serve others,  both in and outside of  the  home.  We should be  known as  people who  experience  peace and  joy, even in the midst of  difficult  circumstances. We should be  known as  people of acceptance and being able  to  separate  people from the  destructive things in their  lives  , while  loving on them all the more.  We should be  people who are  known by the kind of fruit we produce in our  lives,  and understand that  no fruit can  be  produced when  severed from the  vine. So, absolutely none of this is possible without a  deep and  rich  relationship with  the  Father. This journey,  this  amazing  relationship  should  just  become  deeper  , sweeter, and characterized by new levels of  intimacy and devotion, that is unsurpassed by anything else in the world. It should be a  place where you can be completely yourself absolutely comfortable and  free to  share anything and  everything. We are completely  capable of  receiving  dopamine in a relationship,  when  it stimulates and reaches into every part of our lives. I believe this connection to God is where we begin to  experience the  abundant life that  He promises us, its  not just for the  other side of eternity,  but something that we should be  having and enjoying now ,on this  side of life. We should  be  receiving  fresh  revelations from  God through His word, as well  through  nature, and other  believers,  and  that should  be  received as God speaking to us.  You may be reading God’s word,  praying,  worshipping, or even at a place of service,  and  you  will  hear God speaking through a situation,  like “Bam” that was for you! This process is  known as  sanctification,  where God draws us deeper still and it begins to  be  like  trying  to remember what your  life would  be  like  without your kids. It’s a place that  you don’t want  to  go back in time from,  or even  possibly conceive how it would  ever be  possible.  Let’s real quick  talk about the not so much! There are  some and yes I  believe some that are actually  God’s kids who never  experience the ” Deeper Still “, not because God doesn’t wish that for them,  but they  simply don’t  choose it. I  get often  wanting to  avoid the hard stuff and  the painful things ,but if we don’t  have those or experience them,  we never  grow and  we never  get to  experience all that God has for us. We miss out  on the pain,  but we  also  miss out on the intimacy. I think some just have a  fire insurance policy , of just incase. When  we miss out, it’s kind of like  a death bed experience of getting to  know God,  just  before we leave the planet.  Think about the  thief on the cross, he got into  heaven,  but  he hadn’t  spent  the  previous  three years traveling  with  and basking in the glory of the one and only  Son. It’s kind of like that old candy , Now or Laters”.☺️☺️ God wants you to have Him now and much more later. Deeper Still is a thing,  get it and experience it  now for yourself in a very  real and  personal way,  best time ever!!
• Till Next Time ✌️,Peace!
• Sandy The Southerner

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