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Digging Deep


The morning started out rainy, but the backhoe man came anyway. Young students worked hard on studies while waiting for him to come, so that when he came they could go out and see the whole thing happen. He was going to dig a big hole in our back yard in just one day, just like "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel", in a famous children's book. Our septic system needed a new drain field, and we were going to get one. The old one had commenced doing unmentionable things out in the yard.


The area in the picture below contained a little of the old drain field. It was full of rocks. My husband had tried digging there with a shovel and couldn't do it. A back hoe was necessary. The hand digging required to get the pipes level was tedious work.

With hard work, by quitting time the scene at the top of the page didn't even look like the same place and sported pretty blue sewer pipes.

A little hole slowly transformed into a big hole, with the help of our skilled excavator and his back hoe.
Laser leveling equipment assisted the workers in making a level bed.


The back yard transformed. One would have never guessed there was a big hole beneath the surface. Room for a new drain field will soon be prepared.
I hope you will take to heart what I have written and let it sink deep into your heart. You can be kept by the power of God alone. Then yoke up with Christ. Make your aim high, and dig deeper than you are now doing. . . {Manuscript Releases, volume 1, p.382.1}
What is below the surface of your life. Is your heart healthy? Are you filled with the power of God or are you making do on your own? There is no way you can dig through the rocks of your own heart and set things straight on your own. But God is the best excavator. He works for free, but does require your consent. He won't come on to your property without your invitation. He is willing to dig out the old heart and give you a new heart. Let him dig deep and pull up all the rocky soil. Let Him dig deeper then you have ever let Him before. Let Him dig out all the filth of selfishness, pride, greed, covetousness, and then fill you with His unconditional, other-centered love for God and man.
The youth especially stumble over this phrase, "A new heart." They do not know what it means. They look for a special change to take place in their feelings. This they term conversion. Over this error thousands have stumbled to ruin, not understanding the expression, "Ye must be born again." . . . When Jesus speaks of the new heart, He means the mind, the life, the whole being. To have a change of heart is to withdraw the affections from the world, and fasten them upon Christ. To have a new heart is to have a new mind, new purposes, new motives. What is the sign of a new heart?--a changed life. There is a daily, hourly dying to selfishness and pride. {SD 100.2}
Then a spirit of kindness will be manifested, not by fits and starts, but continually. There will be a decided change in attitude, in deportment, in words and actions toward all with whom you are in any way connected.. . . . {Sons and Daughters of God, p. 100.3}
A changed life, fastened upon Christ. There is nothing better.
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