Stick Figure Souls

I thought I'd send a final thought for 2016 and a first thought for 2017, as New Year's Eve is upon us. I always feel a little contemplative on this night and a little astonished at what the world is toasting...like who wore what and which videos were the most popular.  Chewbacca mom, water bottle flipping, and a little girl giving her very patient dog a wellness exam, if you're curious.  Here's to you, 2016.

Maybe somewhere, folks are still making New Year's Resolutions.  No one in my house, unless you count school-age boys committing themselves to playing more paintball and taking more trips to Grand Station.

Every year it seems like physical fitness and weight loss are popular themes for resolution makers.  I've been one of them. We applaud this and we should.  Our health is extremely important, but there is one thing more important still. That which we cannot see, but is the only thing that matters in the end.

The life is not for the body, it is for the soul, and man too often chooses the way of life that best suits the body.      -God Calling-

So.  How about this for a fun and potentially frightening idea?  What if you could see your soul and it looked like a stick figure or a cartoon laying on its face?

Which one of these figures would your soul most closely resemble?

Is your soul healthy and eager to respond, as the picture on the left would suggest?

Maybe just a little tired and sluggish, but still on its feet?

Perhaps, your soul has a cane or is in need of a wheelchair option?

Or, ya know.  The last one.  With "nope" written over it and a period on the end.


Whatever the case may be, there's good news and no one has to know about which "sticky" soul you claimed.  The only One who can see it, has already seen it and sees it still.

Hang with me if you're feeling discouraged. There's a lot of great news here...

The first bit of good news is you have a soul and God loves it.  The second bit is you're still alive, so even if your soul is laying on its face, there is still time to get it on its feet.

If you're willing.    

The third bit is that everything you need to improve your soul's posture is available to you, and it knows what it needs.

NOURISHMENT  

In John 4:34, Jesus says, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work."

God Calling expounds, Soul-starvation comes from the failing to do, and to delight in doing, My Will.  Make it your meat to do My Will.  Strength and Power will indeed come to you from that.

May you nourish your soul well all the days of 2017, and experience strength and power in doing so.  Happy New Year!

If You Wouldn't or Couldn't Anymore

Do you ever have those moments when you receive everything you already have as a gift anew?

For the last six weeks, I've had a knot and swelling under my left arm.  For the last two weeks, I started to worry.  This week, I had a mammogram, ultrasound, and blood work and all is well. 

All.  Is.  Well.

I work with and for people who have a story that ends much differently than mine, but begins much the same.  I see them in the hospital, sometimes abandoned by the ones they love, fighting for their lives against cancer or other life-altering diagnoses.

In my work, I always try to imagine what it would be like to be in my patient's "shoes", although they are seldom wearing any.  Usually, something more like non-skid socks. 

For the last couple of weeks, my imagination has been very busy doing what imaginations do.  But, I've been imagining for myself, as well as all of the others.  I don't consider myself to be a hypochondriac, but I definitely know enough to have a dangerous thought life.  Even without a medical background, Google can scare the hell out of anybody. 

In its bleakest moment, my imagination leaves kids behind and prior to that, imagines being on the outside of the life I've created, looking in.  Too sick to participate, but well enough to see.  This is confirmed in the stories of people I've visited with - people whose imaginations have been laid off because reality has no need of them. 

What if, what if, what if...

And in the middle of a string of what ifs, I remembered a very special patient who was struggling with cancer and has since passed away.  She told me when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, that she invited God to "show off" in her.  She gave Him total permission to use everything about her suffering for His Glory.  So, I borrowed her prayer, in my not-knowing.

Only God is not "showing off" in my suffering, but very hopefully, through my health.  How often is our health "wasted" on carrying out the activities of daily living?  Not wasted because we're doing things that don't need to be done  (Lord knows that dishes and laundry and grocery shopping and all the rest have to be done!), but because we're not grateful that we're able to do them!

Can you imagine yourself in a hospital bed for a day?  A week?  Months on end?  Can you imagine coming home afterward, restored and rejoicing in your ability to do the same things that you loathe doing today?

I can and I am. 

And this is why I'm writing today - To live in the reality that in a moment, we would give anything to have what we already have and to do what we're already doing, if only we thought that we wouldn't or couldn't anymore.