Out of Our Depth(s)

"I don't think it is always necessary to talk about the deepest and most private dimension of who we are, but I think we are called to talk to each other out of it, and just as importantly to listen to each other out of it, to live out of our depths as well as our shallows." - Frederick Buechner


Far too often we find ourselves completely out of our depth, in over our heads, hanging on by our fingernails and desperately hoping that nobody notices. My life echoes this as strongly as any.

At the same time, the above quote by Buechner reminds me of a call to another sort of life - a life lived authentically and honestly, out of our depths.

In the coming posts I want to explore that idea, out of our depth and out of our depths.

I tried starting this blog a couple weeks ago but my first few posts were hazy and confused. My first blog attempt left me a lot of escape routes. I made self-deprecating remarks to indicate that this blog would likely find itself abandoned and forgotten, "floating lifeless in the ether". I wasn't certain what I was even doing so it seemed wise to anticipate failure.

Blogs have always struck me as being overly revealing, overly self-indulgent or overly preachy and pretentious. In attempting to avoid those traps I fell into another - I failed to be relevant.

So, with the help of some wise friends, I'm giving this another try. What does it mean to live authentically and to connect with people out of the depths of our experience? How can we do this when we're barely hanging on ourselves?

That's the question that follows me everywhere I go.