7.0
Deep Calls to Deep
If you’ve lived on this earth you’ve had your heart broken in all kinds of ways: the shock of grief, mistreatment by someone you trusted, abandonment, betrayal…the list is basically endless. It’s the price tag that comes with the gifts of joy and the glory of being fully alive. It also sucks at times.
Getting knocked down can be corrosive to your inner self, creating scar tissue that hardens you from the inside out. The effect on your soul and spirit is substantial, because it causes them to hide from you. How can you discover who you really are if your deepest self is encased in trauma and disappointment? That hardness is self-protection, sure, but it doesn’t actually work. It just results in us feeling alone and overwhelmed.
Our soul and spirit also get lost in the labyrinth of our mind as we go around and around in our own head. We try to think our way out of our circumstances, as though the brain has magic powers to heal us on its own. The mind is our helper, but “mind over matter” doesn’t coax the soul and spirit out of hiding. They’re sensitive and tender. They need love, not lectures.
This is why we need other people around to help us along the way. Because our spirits communicate with each other; it’s like they use geolocation to connect us together. I know you’ve felt this, how someone draws out not only your best self but helps to actually reveal your own depth to you in ways you didn’t even realize. The Bible describes that as, “deep calls to deep.” It’s so evocative. God, Jesus, and the HS have so much depth to share with you, and they’re so creative that they even use our own human relationships to showcase their love that doesn’t quit.
The spirit to spirit communication is powerful in the good times, and it’s also so meaningful when we’re going through adversity. It’s this connection with others that gives us courage and support and self-acceptance as we learn more and dare more. We need a circle of trust to create a charged force field that helps protect us as we grow from the inside out. “Deep calls to deep.”
The inner life can’t be navigated alone, it just doesn’t work. And thankfully, we don’t have to do it that way. Let’s be grateful and press into it together.
This is Living Now
Even the most serene among us feel insecure or self-conscious at times to risk opening up in a deep way. We use distancing moves like humor or denial or defensiveness to keep people at bay. Some use certainty as a cudgel.
Mimi Steed of Bar Method reminds her students to, “be brave in your breath.” I want to add another layer: “be brave to relax into relationships.” Jesus will catch you every time. And the HS will be right by your side. Ask yourself the question: What’s a step I can take to be brave and lean into deep relationships?
“My deep need calls out to the deep kindness of your love.” Psalm 42:7