Soul
Training
“I wrote
Soul Keeping because we are taught more about how to care for
our cars than how to steward our souls. But you cannot have an
impactful life with an impoverished soul.”
John
Ortberg (Soul Keeping)
Ortberg makes a very good
point about our knowing more about taking care of our cars than we do
about caring for our souls. I don't know about you, but that's true
for me. We're somewhat obsessive about getting the oil changed and
the tires rotated on our cars right on time. We know that exercise,
fresh air and fresh food are good for our bodies. We don't always
have them, but we know they are important. We know that our hair,
skin and teeth require regular tending. But, when it comes how to
care for our souls, we go blank. We think, well, there's prayer—I
pray twice a day—I give God a laundry list of what I want, and I
thank God for providing for another day. Then there are good deeds—I
go to the shelter kitchen once a month, I take my old clothes to the
mission thrift store. I go to church and sing hymns and fellowship
with my co-congregants. Isn't that caring for my soul? Not so much.
The soul requires a
little bit of undivided attention every day. It wants some solitude
in which we check in, and ask how it's doing. What did I do today
that made you happy, what made you sad? Are you content that we're
making progress? And, what does progress look like? Here is Ortberg's
answer to such questions: “Being deeply contented with God in my
everyday life is a focused attitude. It means practicing letting go
of my obsession with how I'm doing. It means training myself to learn
to actually be present with people, and seeking to love them.”
Caring for our souls
means practicing love—even for those who disagree with us, who
represent things we don't like. Love is like beef stew and warm
biscuits for the soul. Practicing love—for self, for others, for
the world, for its flaws, its pretenses, its misguided messes, its
unlovely people—is how we care for our soul. Love is the language,
and the source of nourishment of the soul. Love recharges our
individual soul-batteries, and the world-soul's batteries. And, boy,
do we all need that right this minute!
In the Spirit,
Jane
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