You know when you’re a blogger you have a certain kind of freedom. Maybe that is why I like it so much. I am a free spirit. In fact, a friend recently described me as a conservative who has an inner hippy. Yep, firm in some beliefs, open to conversation and discussion on hot topics, and constantly seeking to bring peace. But this morning, as I sit here writing about the theme for the month, Spiritual Health, I am taken by the broadness of that subject. The free place inside of me is saying – have fun, don’t get mired down in the logistics of this, let it flow naturally!
What is your idea of spiritual health? You know my followers are not big on commenting, but I love to hear what is going on inside of the minds of others on this subject. Spiritual health concepts are growing (especially in the medical world) but it still is somewhat controversial. Oddly enough it is the Christian world that pushes back the most! Yoga, meditation, spiritual prayers often get a bad rap because they are seen as coming out of the Eastern hemisphere, which for some reason is associated with different religions.
Here is a very brief history lesson. Christianity went west and it went east. The founders of the Eastern Orthodox Church came out of the same tradition as the Catholic Church that went west. All of them built upon the teachings of Christ. The western church grew in discipline and works, the eastern grew in more spiritual matters. Neither was right neither was wrong, they were just different. In more recent years (close to 60 if we see a big shift in the 1960’s), there has been a movement in the western church that has been driven by the larger culture to embrace spirituality.
This reminds me of the passage of scripture in which Jesus tells his followers to leave the others healing in his name alone, saying to them, if they are doing it in my name what is the harm (basically) Mark 9:39. So, what is spiritual health? God said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job,” (Job 1:8). Did you ever consider that Job had great spiritual health? His life became a hot mess under the works of the devil. Folks, if you haven’t read the story, put it on your reading list. He lost it all! He didn’t just have to start a new career over he went from a $100,000,000+ to zero in seconds flat! Weight that would crush many of us.
You’re probably still trying to figure out my point of spiritual health. Let me bring it full circle. If you put a small circle in the center of a page and wrote God in the circle, then drew circles scattered all around the page each listing important aspects of your own life, finally if you drew arrows to and from the circles designated as yours to the one with God’s name you would have spiritual health. Let me bring Job back into the conversation for a second. In Job 9:5-10 he begins this listing of God’s amazing and mighty character that continues off and on for chapters. Each of those things you listed as yours are ultimately at the mercy of God, according to Job.
Take a deep breath that doesn’t mean you will experience what he did. I want you to see something beautiful. Verse 11 says this, “When he passes me, I cannot see him; when he goes by, I cannot perceive him.” This is a good thing. Moses had a similar experience and God warned him that if he saw the Almighty, he would die. But that’s not my point. My point is if we are like Job who unrelentingly loved God and sought to do his will even without seeing or feeling God then we are constantly, consistently living into spiritual health.
You see my friend; it is not something you can do. It is something you do as an outpouring of your desire to love God. You’ll more than likely never get it right (Job 9:20) because the simple fact is we are not perfect. But even our failed efforts are something that God desires and is pleased to see (Job 1:8). So, you could tell me that spiritual health is a place of peace, a place of constant striving towards God, a walk in the park or the woods, a song that touches your heart, a flower in bloom, a yoga exercise and I might respond with a simple ‘yes.’ There is one element that defines it: a focus so intent, so deep, so transfixed on God that it is unshakable.
In order to reach this place, we often have to let down some walls or at least barriers that are self-constructed. This sounds crazy hard because as humans we are not prone to like self-exposure. We like to hide the dark places, but if God is already passing by, then there is no hiding. When God is our sole focus, it is not necessarily easier to take off those social masks we each wear, but we learn trust and healthy dependence which breeds peace filled living.
As always, thank you for allowing me to take this journey with you. For more information on spiritual health see www.monicaswank.org.
-blessings
Monica Swank 