let's dig a lil deeper!

One day, last Fall, I had a break in my day. Had to photograph a condo downtown San Jose and the pathway there lead me through my child neighborhood. We lived near downtown in an old fashion cottage, but the neighborhood started to deteriorate and we soon moved. But I have several fond memories of me there. I learned to ride my bike on these streets and had several pets in that house. So as I drove by...much to my surprise...business had started there. They had converted several of these homes into small business offices. Clever idea. And at the corner of one was this great coffee house. Irish coffee house. So I pulled over to take a peek inside and to check out the neighborhood. Grabbed a coffee and sat in the front porch.Only to come across one of the most annoying sounds ever. There was construction being done on the freeway entrance near by. And the workers had a tall machine with them. Probably about three floors high. This contraption was used to press/dig into the ground to put the rivets/foundation in for the columns that support the on ramp. Not sure how far deep they had to dig, but the noise was heard throughout the whole community. So much so that people were shouting to hear one another. And it banged, digged, pushed the earth in a rythym very distinct. Similar to a heart beat. I closed my eyes and listened. It was so uncomfortable. But I forced myself to remember that sound. Is that what it sounds like when we examine ourselves? Often in conversations with friends and at church we talk about self-examination and I'm always curious to know how we as individual process. We even say "let's dig a lil deeper." What does it sound like? My guess, if we truly allow ourselves this depth of examination similar to that construction tool, we would not be the same. The noise of that machine was so unbearable, but it made a permanent ink memory to my brain. You know what's funny? The more it dug the more I new whatever would be built there would last a lifetime. The further it dug down in there the more confident I felt about driving on that ramp. So it made me feel a lil more peaceful a lil more safe. strange no?