Friday, February 20, 2009
Tunnels of the Soul
Some people have claimed they don’t exist. Others swear they’ve been in them. People who have had access to them insist that co-workers escaped there for naps, smokes and romantic meetings. Whatever the story, there is no little mystery surrounding the tunnels beneath the town of Southbridge, MA. According to Joe Capillo’s May 4, 1998 article in the Southbridge Evening news, in the early 1900s American Optical built two utility tunnels, each about a mile long. One tunnel connected company buildings and ran under the Quinebaug River. The other, “the A.B. Wells tunnel, ran from Mr. Wells home on Main Street near Dresser Park to the main plant on Mechanic St.” (see www.dickwhitney.net/AOTunnel.htm)
I’ve driven over these tunnels for years and had no idea they existed. It reminds you of the underground cities that exist beneath downtowns like Toronto, Chicago, New York City and Boston. It makes you wonder how many things go on underground that most of us never know about. Beneath the city streets of our world are millions of miles of culverts, tunnels, pipes and conduits that allow for water, waste, electricity, gas, oil and communication signals to be dispersed or collected as needed. In many cities there are shopping malls, business centers and transportation systems teeming with activity but completely hidden from the crowds that trample them underfoot.
The same is true of individuals. Within all of us are private tunnels of the soul. Beneath our activity and our obvious interaction with others there are important pipelines that are essential to our wellbeing. It is in the recesses of our soul we may have great wells of joy (John 7:28) or deep caverns of darkness and despair. Don’t underestimate the importance of these tunnels. They have great potential for both good and evil. There is a grave tendency to ignore them or pretend they do not exist, but they are real and they are designed by God to be connections to your source of abundant life.
How tempting it is to busily engage in surface activities and menial chores, hoping that we never have to explore the depths of our feelings or the long corridors of our past. But how fascinating and rewarding it is when we allow God to probe the depths of our souls, repair our broken hearts, and speak to us in a deep and personal way. What power and strength and joy is at our disposal when we yield our minds, our memories, our wills and our emotions to a loving God who knows how we were created to live. For those who give their lives to Him, there are possibilities of internal blessings beyond description.
Have you taken inventory of your inward parts of late? Have you learned to pray in ways that allows God to minister to your deep hurts? Have you discovered how to open up to the love and forgiveness that He extends to all mankind? Have you received power since you’ve believed? (Acts 19:2) If not, you owe it to yourself to learn more. We are all spiritual beings and if we don’t manage those areas of our life that are beneath the surface, the problems that can develop will end up managing us. Maybe those unexplainable feelings that trouble you are simply messages from the depths of your soul letting you know that you have a need for something more – that’s usually the way God gets our attention so He can begin a great renovation of our soul tunnels, so that we can be empowered to live life the way he created it to be lived. Go explore!
I’ve driven over these tunnels for years and had no idea they existed. It reminds you of the underground cities that exist beneath downtowns like Toronto, Chicago, New York City and Boston. It makes you wonder how many things go on underground that most of us never know about. Beneath the city streets of our world are millions of miles of culverts, tunnels, pipes and conduits that allow for water, waste, electricity, gas, oil and communication signals to be dispersed or collected as needed. In many cities there are shopping malls, business centers and transportation systems teeming with activity but completely hidden from the crowds that trample them underfoot.
The same is true of individuals. Within all of us are private tunnels of the soul. Beneath our activity and our obvious interaction with others there are important pipelines that are essential to our wellbeing. It is in the recesses of our soul we may have great wells of joy (John 7:28) or deep caverns of darkness and despair. Don’t underestimate the importance of these tunnels. They have great potential for both good and evil. There is a grave tendency to ignore them or pretend they do not exist, but they are real and they are designed by God to be connections to your source of abundant life.
How tempting it is to busily engage in surface activities and menial chores, hoping that we never have to explore the depths of our feelings or the long corridors of our past. But how fascinating and rewarding it is when we allow God to probe the depths of our souls, repair our broken hearts, and speak to us in a deep and personal way. What power and strength and joy is at our disposal when we yield our minds, our memories, our wills and our emotions to a loving God who knows how we were created to live. For those who give their lives to Him, there are possibilities of internal blessings beyond description.
Have you taken inventory of your inward parts of late? Have you learned to pray in ways that allows God to minister to your deep hurts? Have you discovered how to open up to the love and forgiveness that He extends to all mankind? Have you received power since you’ve believed? (Acts 19:2) If not, you owe it to yourself to learn more. We are all spiritual beings and if we don’t manage those areas of our life that are beneath the surface, the problems that can develop will end up managing us. Maybe those unexplainable feelings that trouble you are simply messages from the depths of your soul letting you know that you have a need for something more – that’s usually the way God gets our attention so He can begin a great renovation of our soul tunnels, so that we can be empowered to live life the way he created it to be lived. Go explore!
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