Living Deeply

When I was a little girl, around the age of 4 years old, I was involved in a “kitchen accident” where I was scalded on both legs from an exploding pressure cooker.  This “accident” left me with second degree burns on my legs and third degree burns on my left ankle.  As a result of my burns, I had to undergo various treatments to relieve the pain and subsequent skin grafts.  Thankfully, l do not remember most of those treatments, except one which was extremely painful for me.  The interesting part of this is what my Daddy did to help me through this ordeal.

Realizing the pain his little girl was going to go through, my Daddy handed me something to hold and focus on as the doctor proceeded.  He handed me 5 silver dollars and said, “Honey, look at these coins as the doctor does what he needs to do.  As the pain gets worse and worse, you look deeper and deeper at them, focusing on them. And before you know it, the doctor will be done.”

Deep is good, right?  Every once in a while, friends want to have deep conversations.  It is good for philosophers to think deep thoughts.  Coaches want to have a deep bench.  Fans want their teams to go deep into the playoffs.  Investors are hoping for a deep recovery.  Gardeners want their plants to have deep roots. 

“Deep” implies substance.  If something is deep, it’s profound, it’s real, it’s enduring.  We want to be deep people.  We want to live deep and meaningful lives.  ''Deeper'' is a word that defines our desire for each person, going a little deeper, pushing out into deeper waters, getting away from the norm.  

We also have a deep spiritual hunger that resides in us that calls out to God, a desire to go deeper in our relationship with God.  The deep waters of God's Spirit are calling out to fill the deep places in our hearts.  We respond with our prayers and our spiritual hunger that drives us to the Word of God and worship.  There is a place in our worship where the waves of God's presence can come upon us again and again, until we find ourselves in ''deep waters.''  Worship is our pathway to deeper waters.
​
With that in mind, we are embarking on another sermon series entitled “Living Deeply-A Letter from John” and with the words found in Apostle John’s first letter, hopefully we learn what it means to live deeply in both Son and Father.

And by the way, those coins that my Daddy handed to me did help me through that terrible ordeal.  But as I look back on it now, I believe it was my Daddy being right there with me that truly helped me to go deeper into myself and push pass the pain; kind of like what the Father and Son does for me now!  
Living deeply,
Pastor Deborah