Keeping life in balance
I truly believe God made us body,
soul (mind, will and emotions), and spirit. I also believe he expects us
to steward all three areas of life well. If we fall in love with any one
of these three to the negligence of the others, we get out of whack. For
example...
We can absolutely fall in love with
their bodies. It can become our obsessive idol.
We also can be run by the soul. Our emotions or mental capabilities rule everything. The
problem is that our emotions can lead us all over the place based on such things as
a lack of sleep, eating something bad, or seeing a dramatic movie. Our
minds need to be sharpened but we don't, and can’t know everything!
Nobody on this planet does or ever will. We cannot disregard spiritual
things because they seem, in the words of Dr. Spock; "rather
illogical".
Finally, we can wrap ourselves in
nothing but spiritual things. When this is done at the abandonment of wisdom
we can get flighty. When we ignore our bodies, they begin breaking down.
Illness and fatigue can limit what we can attempt for God.
A couple of years ago I began the
practice of taking the first 10 to 21 days of each year and some time in August
to fast, pray and make sure things are in line. This is not an attempt to
"try and please the gods to get what I want". The goal is to
take an inventory of what's going on in life and see what needs to go, what
needs to change, and where am I just plain missing it. The fast (usually
fruit and vegetables, juices and unsweet or honey sweetened tea) is both
physically and spiritually beneficial. It cleans out the toxins from the
body and forces me to see what I'm addicted to (I'm jonesing for some ribs and
sweet tea right about now...and a donut!) By pushing back the plate, I
practice discipline I usually wouldn't. It also focuses my prayer life
(more on that in a minute).
I also basically kill social media. It does
very little to build body, soul or spirit. As a matter of fact, it can
add to unneeded drama and distraction in life. Not to worry, after the fast I will get back on to see who broke up, who is in a new relationship and
catch up on all of the "LMS's" that I missed :).
The free
time allows me more time to pray for family, friends, my church, and what I
need to be focusing on in the upcoming year.
A GREAT resource is Elmer
Towns book "Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough". It gives 8
biblical examples of fasts and reasons why these fasts occurred (getting wisdom,
finances, breaking a bondage, spiritual insights, etc. Can anyone else relate to needing any
of these?). I use it as a guide for prayer each day. I also go into
the fast with a reading plan in the Bible (either by topic or specific book or
whatever I need or "feel led' to read) and many times another book on an
area I feel I need to grow.
It’s not always easy because work
doesn’t stop and I still have all of my regular responsibilities. I just know I will be better at home
and work when I do this. I also
figure out that some of those responsibilities don’t need to be on my priority
list right now.
Body. Soul. Spirit.
How about you? How do you put
life back in priority when you know things are getting off kilter?
Also, is there anything I can be
praying for you about? I promise I will pray and it will not become a
sermon illustration. :)
Thanks for reading and I welcome feedback!
