Calm of the Deep

Tide Rises, the Tide Falls

Photo by D-Wight
 all rights reserved

Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveler hastens toward the town,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands
Efface the footprints in the sands,
And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveler to the shore.
And the tide rises, the tide falls. 

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I love the ocean... I have always loved the ocean. I loved it when I was a child, even when I got stung by jellyfish. I loved it when I was a teenager for the freedom it presented.  I loved it even more when I was in college and learned to scuba dive. I spent a tremendous portion of my Sophomore and Junior years under some type of water, whether it was in the HYPER building pool on UTK's campus, the springs of Northern Florida or in the Florida Keys. Training myself or others how to truly enjoy the depths of the ocean devoured me in college.
People would often ask,"Are you not afraid of the depth, the critters, or various other possibilities?" The answer was always, and still is,
"No, the depth brings a peace I can not explain, you just have to experience it to understand it."

When you are 100 ft underwater the silence is exhilarating, the calm is so deep it rings to your core and the beauty is unimaginable. Pictures do it no justice and words can't lift it high enough to explain the overwhelming calm and peace that comes from being totally cut off from the world. I guess I should say, you aren't TOTALLY cut off because I am certain if the boat disappeared and the tank pressure dropped to zero the OH SO amazing calm would flitter off like a school of fish being stalked by a Great White. You are, however, cut off from the effects of this world. You hear nothing, save the air bubbles flowing from your regulator, you see nothing, but the vastness in front of you and you feel nothing, but the very gentle ebb and flow of the ocean around you.

I think the last part of that statement is probably one of the most impressive experiences I have ever been blessed enough to experience. No matter how rough the ocean is on the surface, when you are deep in the ocean's belly the roughness is reduced to a slow, gentle movement. I remember one time we were going to a dive festival in the Florida Keys and the water was so rough that half the potential divers were 'feeding the fishes' while praying for God to calm the seas. It was rough... BUT the dive master promised us that the rough ride would be worth it when we got to the deep water festival. "This was going to be awesome" he told us, "when we get out to the reef all the dive boats will be piping music into the water and you will be able to swim around the reef and listen to the best beach music" But the only music we heard at that moment was yak & hurl, a green band with lots of members on our little dive boat. So let's just say, I had my doubts, at this point, that the dive would be as smooth as he was promising. When we reached the reef, the ocean was delivering roughly 5-6 foot waves but at the dive masters encouragement we suited up and jumped in.... SMACK....wave....CHOKE....inhaled wave.... I couldn't get deep enough, fast enough! So I exhaled the air from my BC and sank like a rock into the deep, rough waters.
Then it happened~ I huge wave rolled by, I saw the boats rock and roll above me and all I felt was a gentle lift and fall... ebb and flow.... I was astonished! For the next few minutes I floated, suspended in the middle of the ocean like a fish, just absorbing the gentle movement of the water around me. I knew the waves on the surface were not calm, I could see the boats rolling and smacking the surface, but the movement I felt was SO gentle! It was amazing to recognize the difference just a few feet of depth could make in the how I experienced the world around me. After a few minutes of floating the dive proceed and I got to experience life on the reef while listening to steel drums, not as peaceful as a normal dive but definitely a fun experience.
I had not thought of this dive in a long time, and then, a few Sundays ago Dr. Haun was talking about the Fruits of the Spirit, you know: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control; but specifically the fruit of Joy. In his sermon he mentioned that while Joy and happiness are often linked they are not the same. Happiness isn't always an indicator of Joy and Joy is not always reflected as happiness. While happiness is based on outward circumstances and conditions, true Joy is inward. Joy is a tremendously deep dimension of delight and enthusiasm that can't not be rocked by the ups and downs (ebbs and flows) of this life. Joy comes from the inside, a deep place within our heart and mind that stills us against the waves of this life.

When we are hanging off the back of the boat of life, wrenching up our toe nails, we know as soon as we jump in the depths of God's word we will feel peace. The movement of the situation will still be present but it will not rock us to the core.  The Joy the Bible is talking about in Galatians 5: 22-23 & Psalms 28:7 strengthens our core so it is not shakeable. It makes us solid and able to withstand the outward waves with out losing our inward enthusiasm.

EmJ

L-O-V-E and what it means to me...

In 2012 what does the word Love mean? Is it long term or short term? Is it a moment of lust or endurance of a lifetime? Is it just a word that it is as over used as the term 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' or does it still hold water? The website http://www.askmen.com/ had this to say about the word Love and it is antonym hate:

"Is there a garden around? Because these words have been watered down to the point of no return. And it’s all because people have been slowly accepting them as reasonable alternatives to describe fondness (or lack thereof). Love and hate both involved descriptions of serious passion or emotion at one time; now they’re just used as slang-fodder for anything to make a poetic statement."

I couldn't agree more!

On this day....Feb 14th, 2012, you know, Valentine's Day, the day-o-love.... I thought I would get back to the basics of what Love is called to be. Having high hopes that keeping it simple will remind all of us how HIGH the standards are set for this over used & undermined word, "Love".

Love is patient and kind; Love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.

1 Corinthians 13:4–8a

Now....That is not just any ole standard....That is a high standard. I would say the highest standard.


I have GREAT difficultly with the first one, Patience, and the difficultly only gets worse as the list continues. God you want me to be patient?? What if I have made the same request 10 times, I am supposed to just CALMLY ask again...The little voice in my head says,'How many times have I asked you to just trust Me?"
Ok, well, I can do the Kindness thing because that's just the kind of girl I am, sugar and spice and everything nice. Unless of course you are mean to me then the gloves come off...but that is only fair, Right?  Little Voice, "remember that whole turn the other cheek thing...."


I could go on, and on but let's just say the kind of Love that is being described here is not the kind of love that I hear about daily. This is the kind of Love that takes work and lots of it...at every turn....
This kind of Love is rare in this world because, like I mentioned in my previous post, we would like to believe that we don't have to work to make something successful. It blows my mind how many times I have heard, "I just don't think I should have to work this hard." Why not? Who are we to have it easy? I know that nothing worth having ever comes without work, and if it was easy everyone would have it. It being love, money, happiness, or most importantly and probably most ignored- contentment. The love that is produced in Hollywood is not the kind of Love that we are called to enjoy. The Love that is meant for us is the kind of Love that is incredibly difficult but amazingly rewarding.
In a world that considers everything disposable, including love. I think it is very hard to think about it in terms that are listed in 1 Corinthians; something that bears all things, endures all things, believes all things and most importantly, LOVE NEVER FAILS.


So today I charge you with finding out what L-O-V-E means to you? Are you looking for/living with the 'new' watered down type of love or the 'old' hardworking, never failing type of Love that we can be blessed with if we are willing to work for it?


EmJ