Springtime Of The Soul

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Springtime

I love change. I think most people love the change of the seasons between winter and springtime. Everything seems fresh, new, and exciting. Some of my friends have been making changes in their lives…mostly to cut back on things that take their time and to focus more on God. You know, sometimes we get so caught up with the things that need done that we forget who we really are or perhaps, we stray from the person we want to be. Consumed with doing, we become distracted and disengaged from being who God made us to be.

Busyness

Busyness isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Even Jesus was a very busy person. However in His busyness, Jesus was never hurried. Our real problem today is that we are hurried, which is not so much a disordered schedule, but a disordered heart.

David reminds us that life is fleeting and fragile in Psalms 39:4-6.

“O LORD, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
Surely a man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

All our busy rushing ends in nothing. It’s not how much we do, but what we do that matters. God is all that matters in the end.

Hurry Sickness

When busyness turns into hurriedness, our behaviors and attitudes change. The less stable our lives get, the less stable we become. We could say that the resulting mindset and lifestyle is an illness. It is easy to read my body’s signals and determine when I am physically sick, but how am I at reading the signals of my heart and soul to determine my spiritual well-being?

Why is it so easy for many of us to get hurry sickness? For one, almost everyone has it, and it is contagious. For some reason we live as if the person who gets the most done during the day wins. By the end of the day we feel fatigued and are too tired to care about the people that matter the most to us. We try to connect with those we love when we are physically, emotionally, and spiritually wiped out. This can result in harsh words, continuing to rush at home, self-destructive habits, and a loss of awe and wonder with the world.

Spring Cleaning

May I suggest that we take time now, before we start to spring clean, to spring clean our lives.

• Take inventory of all your involvements. Perhaps, you feel hurried or too busy, see if you can cut down on some of your involvements.
• Straighten up your priorities. We probably realize what should be most important in our lives, but when we go about our day are we keeping our priorities in line?

Prayer & Fasting

The practice of  Lent is a great way to give yourself a spiritual spring cleaning. Praying and fasting is not a discipline through which we gain greater control over our lives, but one through which God gains access to redirect and heal us in body, mind, and spirit. A proper abstinence actually breaks the hold of improper engagements so that the soul can be properly engaged by God.

Prayer and fasting, seem to be the two most effective tools in cleaning away our self-preoccupation so we can be more responsive to God’s life in and through us. It involves real labor, but how satisfying and freeing it is to get rid of all that unnecessary stuff! Release, clarity, and freedom shine through the sometimes painful and often tedious process of stripping away what is false in us. Spiritually, the result is restoration to “the natural life” which is the Christ life:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ~Galatians 2:20

Springtime of the soul.

How Do You Overcome Hurry Sickness? How Do You Spring Clean Your Life?