Taking care of the soul

PHOTO CAPTION: A car that I saw on the side of the path as I was hiking a trail on my last camping trip.

"There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ." - Blaise Pascal
A month ago I was hiking a trail in the woods and I saw an old broken down car off to the side of the path. It was shaded by some trees and was beat up, eroding, and had no tires. Initially, I was shocked to see a car in the middle of the woods. The oddity of the moment prompted me to reflect about how many things are falling apart all around us and are either becoming of no use or are of no use. When a material object is no longer beneficial it is usually thrown away and discarded.

Trying to find a spiritual connection I thought about the human soul. Many times the soul is neglected and discarded in day to day life. It is as if we forget that we are spiritual beings. How awful it would be if someday our soul, the place where we can find God and He resides, was lost and eventually became of no use due to neglect. The car on the trail was at one time of use and driven by its owner. But now it just sits there. May we make the most of our opportunities.

We were created to connect with God and to drink from his fountain. Yet, many times our souls are thirsty, distressed, anxious, and overwhelmed with a deep hunger and emptiness.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) once said that we all have a "God-shaped vacuum." He is implying that we all have a need for God. If we do not satisfy this need for a connection with God we will inevitably try to satisfy the need with unhealthy things that only lead to more pain. Hopefully we, who know Jesus is the living water, will not fall into the habit of neglecting our soul. Let us regularly examine and check to see that our soul is seeking the living water than comes from the great fountain of God.

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." - John 7:37-38 (NIV)

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" - Luke 9:23-25 (NIV)