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 Have you ever thought of yourself as suffering from soul neglect? It is a very real issue but often not identified. Struggles with “Burnout”, “Midlife Crisis”, “Identity Crisis”, “Running on Empty” and “Brittleness” could possibly stem from soul neglect.
In a previous article, I drew attention to the fact that we are created with spiritual capacity, something unique and special beyond our physical capacity: a spiritual ability to have a relationship with the Creator.
Our soul is our mind, will and emotions - our psyche in other words - and our souls can greatly hamper our spiritual health if we are all over the place in our thinking, emotionally unhinged and lacking any kind of Godly commitment.
Let’s have a look at some of the symptoms of soul neglect:
• Low-grade “depression fever”
• Busy but bored
• Loss of control over life’s routine
• Loss of spiritual connection and responsiveness to others
• Withdrawal from responsibility and leadership
• Preoccupation with projects of lesser importance
• Restlessness and dissatisfaction
• Resurgence of unhealthy habits, diminished impulse control, diminished resistance to temptation
• Guilt and shame
• A hard heart
Very illuminating, don’t you think? In running a course recently on SOULSHAPING, I realised from the responses of the people on the course that nearly everyone could identify definite seasons in their lives of soul neglect. A very healthy acknowledgment!
Since we have been created to experience “spirituality”, what better way to develop spiritual health than by instilling the classic spiritual disciplines into our lives that keep us located before God, steadied and sustained by His love.
Some of the very helpful disciplines are:
• The daring dialogue – prayer. This re-enforces the fact that God is truly with us and helps us confront temptation and evil.
• Freeing ourselves from yesterday – confession. This is a time-honoured way of dealing with sin.
• Recognising the presence of God at all times – worship.
• Living beyond worry – disciplining ourselves to trust God through surrender and faith.
• Studying and reflecting on God’s Word, thereby being energised by an eternal perspective.
• Taking time to hear from our hearts through the disciplines of solitude, silence and fasting.
• Putting our gifts to work.
We have looked at the symptoms of soul neglect; what then would be the vital signs of spiritual vitality? How do you know your soul is healthy? What does spiritual vitality look like in the “dailies of life”?
• A daily sense of being loved, forgiven and accepted by God. This is called “grace”.
• Anticipation and expectancy of meeting God at every turn life can offer.
• Resilience: the ability to recover from “stuff” and adjust to change; “unsinkability”: “God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved!”
• Compassion: When we better know and love our Creator, we learn to value the creation, and we learn to love what God loves.
• Energy to do God’s will and fulfil His purpose for each of our lives.
• Integrity: we do what we believe, in humility, honesty and sincerity.
• Thankfulness: one of the best ways of staying connected to God and staying healthy.
Spiritual vitality is an adventure of love, a discovery of the endless resource of God’s commitment and love to every single individual. Take time to care for your souls. Think about and choose one of the above-mentioned disciplines for a month, then move on to the next, until they are all part of your spiritual health lifeline. You will experience the difference!
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