Holes in our souls

How often do we think about our souls? Jesus said that the first priority is to love God with all your heart and and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. I think we can all identify these other parts of our being, but how often can we put our finger on our souls?

As we hit a busy time of the year, our souls are yearning for Jesus. We may not understand it, since we're so poor at seeing this part of us. We may attribute what we feel to stress, anxiety, tiredness, or just anticipation of the end of a term. But a lot of the "not-quite-right-ness" that we feel is a distortion of our souls. Our souls need to be fed just like any other part of us. We exercise for the sake of our strength, we study and think for the sake of our mind, we engage with our emotions for the sake of our heart. How do we feed our souls?!?!?!

Answer: ENGAGE WITH JESUS. He holds the keys to the satisfaction of our souls. He alone knows the answers to the deep questions we are asking, even though we don't hear ourselves asking them through the din of our own activities. Living an abundant life means living a life based in the rhythm of Jesus, which is dedication to prayer, not the rhythm of the world, which is slavery to human effort and work.

This isn't about filling holes in the prayer schedule -- it's about filling the holes in our souls.

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God, my shepherd!
I don't need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.

Even when the way goes through Death Valley,
I'm not afraid
when you walk by my side.
Your trusty shepherd's crook
makes me feel secure.

You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.

Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I'm back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.

--eli