Developing Intimacy

“The most important commandment is this: Listen, O Israel!  The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.  And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.  The second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself.  No other commandment is great than these." Mark 12:29-31(NLT)

 

Intimacy

Webster’s definition:  A state of close relationship. We are made for intimacy; with God and with each other.  Intimacy allows people to bond with each other on many levels.  Therefore, it is a necessary component of healthy relationships.  In order to have intimacy with others we need to have intimacy with God first.

Being intimate means “in-to-me-see”.  It is a blending of our heart with another's, so we can “see into” who they really are, and they can “see into” us.  This is the mixing of our life with another’s, a mingling of souls, a sharing of hearts.  We all long for this because it’s how God made us.  We were designed to connect.

Real intimacy makes us feel known.  Real intimacy makes us feel alive like we’ve been found, as if someone finally took the time to peer into the depths of our soul and really see us there. Until we experience true intimacy, we will feel passed over and ignored, like someone is looking right through us. 

Sadly, we can miss out on intimacy that can make us and another person feel known, when we predetermine what we think we should see when we examine their life, heart, personality and soul.  When this happens, we will try to mold and make them into who we believe they should be.  As a result, we are blinded to their good qualities, and love and intimacy are destroyed.  When we ignore another person’s beauty and all that God made them to be, intimacy is lost.  Why?  Because intimacy flows out of feeling wholly accepted just the way we are.

-Sally Samarin