Talia Biel is a member at Crossroads Church. She is a sincere Jesus follower with a gift for connecting her faith to real life, and for sharing that through her writing. Check out her blog “Holding On To Faith”.

Going Deeper by Talia Biel
This past week, as my husband was away at a conference. I had the opportunity to do some deep thinking and reflection (not always a good thing). It had been a tough week already with news that nobody wants to hear about certain family members, with a demanding work and school schedule to stay on top of. Keep busy. That’s what I would tell myself because I knew the moment I  allowed myself to stop and rest, my thoughts would go all haywire.

One of these nights as I was in my deep thinking box.

I couldn’t help but repeat this question over and over.

Is this really it? Is this all there is? 

Don’t get me wrong. I am what I would like to call a follower of Jesus, and I thrive on trying to become more like Him each and everyday, but is this really all there is in terms of my relationship with Him?

A friend of mine recently confided in me that she only feels close to God on Sundays. That is the day she will pray, worship, and cry out to God. Monday-Saturday is a completely different story. She said, “you know Talia, the way I live my life the rest of the week, you wouldn’t even know I am a follower of Jesus.”

Perhaps she expected me to scold her and for me tell her that she should stop living that way.

But A) scolding is so not in my nature (just ask the children I work with) and B) Here is my friend being completely honest and open enough about what I think all of us struggle with.

At least I know I do.

Throughout the conversation, it became clear that although this is how she lives her life now, she wants to and has a desire to change. She wants to live that close relationship she has with God on Sunday mornings everyday of the week. Yet, she has no idea how to get there. She has no other Christians in her family for moral support, and a community to rely on others to be able to grow deeper in her relationship with Christ.

And trust me, I get it.

Through my reflections this week. I know there has to be more to this. In my very core, I know God is calling me to do more. That He wants that close relationship throughout the week too, not just on Sundays.

Side note: I work in an infant room with babies as young as 7 months old. What amazes me is how quickly babies imitate my actions and pick up on things. Perplexed at how at such a young age their ability to quickly master skills such as walking, talking, even mimicking expressions.  I once brought this up to my teacher and said she it’s because babies don’t have all this extra crap going on in their heads as adults do. They are better able to absorb any new information and are eager to seek for new opportunities for growth.

I couldn’t help but think wow that’s amazing. I’m not saying God is saying we should all be babies again and to remove all the extra crap in our heads so we can go deeper, but I am saying perhaps in one way God is already trying to move us into going deeper together already. To continue to fulfill His mission that He has placed us here on this earth to do, but because of all the extra crap going on in our heads and lives, we are simply not aware of it.

He wants us to go deeper with Him, and with each other.

I Talia, need more than just Sunday mornings. I need more of Jesus. I need to go deeper.

How will I get there?

I have no clue!

But I have an open mind!

🙂