Monica Swank

Glass Houses Shatter

Somedays, I get lost in what to share. This is one of those. I have been focusing on trauma and crisis for the last few weeks. What I want to be able to do from my desk and chair is reach into my computer and grab a few of you who are reading this and bring you into my physical space. I want to do this more than anything because I know with my full heart that you are sitting in the same place emotionally, spiritually, and mentally that I was years ago.

Your heart is crushing under the weight of your day, but you have so much willpower and bravery that you are going day to day in a strength that you aren’t sure from where it comes. In fact, you don’t even seem to notice it most of the time. You have dream jobs, you have beautiful families. If you were an outsider looking in, you would see something close to perfection. But you personally know the joy that is missing. Dark days or moments seep into you.

I want to grab you and bring you into my space to show you that you can have both. I want to help you unbury that event or events in your past that are casting shadows on your life. But we both know I can’t do that by way of a wire that transmits signals. And thank God! I love that we are made up of flesh, bone, heart, soul, and memories. But because we are we feel the impact of the world with more force than any other creation.

It’s in this feeling that I want you to experience relief. I long for you to feel release while holding to a memory. Henri Nouwen wrote an entire book based on this very idea. You see as crazy as it sounds there is a gift in the pain you are carrying around. Only, however, if you allow yourself to heal from it. Nouwen’s book, Wounded Healer, is designed to show leaders how to care out of this space.

These things are not just for leaders. Healing is for all of us! If you were sitting in my house with me today, what story would you tell me? If one popped into your mind, then it’s time my friend for you to move forward. The first piece of any hard work is to honestly see the truth behind it. No work is ever accomplished well without this honest overview, goals determined, recognition of obstacles, and a plan to overcome as well as achieve the end result.

If your freedom from some lifetime pain could be found just over the next hill, wouldn’t you keep walking until you came to it regardless of how exhausted you were? I write from a Christian perspective which I realize in our world often is portrayed as a false healing or hope. I assure you that what I am sharing is not false. I also can assure you that these same steps work for you whether or not Christ is your savior. My only promise that comes from faith is that it does not dull or fade away when you do the work under the care of the Holy Spirit.

Take inventory of your life. In what moments does it appear as if you are wearing a mask or fake smile to achieve your goals? Is this taking up more or less of your days? Is there some traumatic event or crisis that took place in your life? Is it possible that this has impacted your regular day-to-day living? These are questions that I call getting naked or being raw with yourself. When you can take this first step the rest are not so difficult.

I have a friend who teaches grief care. He’s like me in that he did the work personally before he attempted to teach it to others. One of the things him and I have talked about many times is that the pain does not just fade away. For him as a healer, grief is a daily weight that people carry around in which he is trying to show how they can find an acceptance that offers freedom from that weight. For me, trauma and crisis are more like a cancer that spreads via the blood stream. It becomes so interwoven that we don’t even recognize it until it chokes the life out of some important part of us. I long to give you back every aspect of yourself, but not just back to the self that you had prior to the event, but to a healthier, peace-filled, transformed you. Come through the wires my friend contact@monicaswank.org.

Blessings

Misfiled Documents

“Spiritual warfare often takes place in the realm of ideas, concepts, and thoughts.”[1] What do you reason away in your life as connected to some event or person who altered your daily joy? I can hear some of you chuckling over this idea. Some are thinking, “oh, man, the stories!” and others are more like, “pfft, whatever.” I get it. I have been in both of those places. It isn’t easy to consider this concept, I propose for several reasons, one being that we don’t really want to believe that spiritual influences have power over our reasoning abilities. I mean that is just an all-out odd thought. Secondly, we are prone to fall into a victim mentality. It is much more comfortable to accept that someone has wronged us and then to power through life pushing against this wrong.

I often say that we get caught up looking at the wrong part of a picture and miss the greater meaning. An artist once painted a picture of my daughter. The painting was almost a mirror image of her real person. It detailed her best features. It also added in the circles under her eyes and imperfections in her skin. To look at the painting as an online image was deceptive because nothing in the work of art suggested it was not a photograph. It was, however, most definitely oil paint on a canvas.

Our brain does not like deception. It likes to put things in nice, neat boxes. If something is difficult for us to understand in the psychological or emotional realm, we section it off into pieces and parts until it fits. At times we misinterpret the information and file it away in the wrong box. This is very true with trauma and crisis.

We just can’t fathom these things. Research has actually shown that our brain does not logically know how to file violent acts experienced by us. Instead, it continues to act in a response that is on high alert. https://youtu.be/a-ddSEHRWVg This video shows the various parts of the brain’s response. This is the logical side of things, but what of the spiritual side?

Is it spiritual warfare that goes on? Is it an unhealthy response or a common one to intense events in our lives? What if it is a sense of both? If you view life from a Christian viewpoint, is it not possible that the world of evil exists and if it does can it trap you in the vice of circular motion in which no real healing takes place?

The mind receives information constantly. I always use an apple analogy here. We either deflect that information, receive it and determine how it will influence our regular life, and/or we absorb it into our very core. If Satan desires to pull us away from life in Christ, then the push by him to infiltrate our core or soul is far more important than what we perceive as just being a daily reference for how to do life. When it is received at our core it is altered into unhealthy thoughts, confused thoughts, and ultimately wrong behaviors.

Trauma is a tool in which our minds can be distorted. There is no natural way to file the impact of it, at which point it is pushed away into what science calls, “disassociation” or it becomes super heightened. Either way it is the driving force behind our daily thoughts and actions.

Whichever category you place trauma or crisis into is not as important as how you approach the healing of it. Where are you today? Are you living with unresolved trauma? My friends it won’t go away. It will lay in waiting. Do not be fooled though, this does not mean it is inactive. It is regularly stealing the peace and joy that Jesus offers to us.

Today, is your chance to take the first steps towards this transformation into the life you were intended to live by God. Do not wait. I offer you several options. One is to contact me at contact@monicaswank.org for a free consultation. The other is through my workbook,True Dependence: Study Book Moving Deeper in Relationship With God – Kindle edition by Swank, Monica L. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. Please, gift yourself a sense of freedom that you have not experienced before.

– blessings

[1] David Kwadwo Okai, PhD, “The Kingdom of God is Spiritual Warfare,” (Xulon Press, 2014), 45.

Unburied Roots

“You wouldn’t believe how many medications firefighters are taking and how many firefighters are taking them,” said a Fire Chief to me as I was leaving his office. We had been discussing the need for better mental health education and intervention.

“The worst part about a bad run is closing your eyes at the end of the day,” said another Fire Chief. I didn’t understand this comment fully until I worked as a hospital Chaplain in the Emergency Department. No, I didn’t pull broken bodies from disaster scenes, but I watched as their bodies were sewn back together or I sat with their families as they attempted to process the news of the sudden loss of life. I did and still do witness firefighters who self-medicate with alcohol because it is easier to close their eyes at night.

One of the reasons why it is difficult for them is that they relive the scene over and over. At night it isn’t the question of if they did things right it is strictly the visuals. Images that are imprinted in their brains for a lifetime. Soldiers experience a similar situation. These are extreme situations, but they are not unlike the images that anyone who has experienced trauma or serious crisis relive on a regular basis.

Years ago, I endured a violent act. Because alcohol was present at the time, I attached it to the memory. The association was a negative. Here’s the thing, I did not realize at the time or for years after that I had made this attachment. I kept doing life. But every time that I would have a drink of alcohol, I would experience sadness that typically transitioned into depression. Which if you know anything about cycles of behavior caused me to reach for more alcohol.

I did life this way from the time I was 15 years old until I was about 40. I found things, positive things, to fill myself up with but none ever allowed for healing of this early life event. Why? I didn’t even know this was at the root. I had buried the event and most definitely all of the emotions around it years ago, or so I thought.

This is exactly why “feel-good” fixes do not work. Exercise, medications without counseling, alcohol or drugs, religion. If you steal $20 from someone, invest that money into something that triples in returns, then out of guilt you give the original $20 back to the person you stole it from does not make the other $40 clean money. The benefit, or earned interest, was rooted in the original stolen money. All of the money is dirty money. It should all have been returned to the original owner.

Crises or traumas that impact us do not go away. They are like that invested $20. The root is in the stolen money even if there are good things that come from it. I had beautiful children. I had success in my jobs. But over time the roots grew so big and were so intertwined in my life that they became oppressive. Like that cash, in a sense I had to return everything that was connected to it. No, I didn’t get rid of my children or my jobs. I went back and faced things differently.

In doing so, I found some seriously dark places in my life. I faced sins that I had reasoned away. I examined relationships and began to repair them. I moved myself out of unhealthy patterns and into environments that would not just appear positive but that would give me real inner peace.

I am always talking about honesty. Honesty with self and honesty with God. If you do not knock down some serious walls you have built in your life for protection (which by the way are false) you will continue to let the roots of unhealthy thoughts and behaviors rule your happiness. If you do not allow yourself to be honest with God, you are limiting the peace that will give you life-long security, confidence, and hope.

There is promise for joy. I hope that you will let me help you find it. Please, reach out to me at contact@monicaswank.org. Until then, I’m loving you, I’m praying for you, and I am so grateful to be journeying with you as you do life.

-blessings

Conflict in Christian Marriages

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Conflicts in marriage are normal. Not many (if any) Old Testament families got marriage or relationships right all the time. Just knowing that doesn’t always help though. The arguments in our own lives are still hurtful. We still feel devalued or undervalued at random times. The knowing only helps if we can step away from our own emotions.

Have you ever found yourself wondering how you can keep going in a relationship that feels this way most of the time? Have you ever felt alone or afraid to speak to another Christian concerning the problems in your home? If either of these, or something similar, rings true I hope you will find comfort in today’s blog.

I want to start with telling you a couple of stories. The first one is about a sense of isolation in the church. Years ago, I was there. I was in a bad place in my marriage. The details aren’t relevant here, but marital counseling was not helping. I did some research in the Bible and found that I was supposed to ask the leaders of the church for guidance. I sat week after week in the pew my heart aching. I tried to find the courage to speak to friends, but their marriages looked so good, so healthy, so right compared to mine. I was embarrassed.

So, I didn’t. Instead, I kept wearing a mask around the people who knew me best. I kept pretending that everything was great. The end result was bad, very bad! I buried it all until the weight was too much and I could see no way out. My friends, I hope you hear my voice with all the sincerity in which I am writing. Do NOT attempt to bear the burden of marital discord alone. Acknowledge these simple facts: conflict is common, even if someone has not personally experienced it, they understand it, people often are more willing to help than not, there are wise leaders in every church even if you have to ask more than one person.

I said I had a couple of stories. The second one is similar but has a different outcome. I am remarried (again the back story is not important to this blog). Guess what, I still have conflict with my spouse and no it is not all me. The nature of relationships suggests that over time two people will have differing opinions and if not approached reasonably they will have conflict. I no longer have a fear about reaching out to my church family or pastor. I actually have a greater obstacle. I am the pastor, and my husband is a local community leader.

I want you to hear these things because some of you are in the same situation. You are married to someone, or you are someone who’s privacy is highly important. I would tell you that those facts are irrelevant if society wasn’t so driven to reveal secrets. There are a few things I want to say about this scenario. First, it is incredibly important that when you have worked through difficulties as public figures you need to share them. That doesn’t mean the details unless they are valuable lessons for others. It does mean though that the rest of the world needs to see you as normal. Second, it also means that you need to seek out someone from the inception of your relationship to mentor and guide you both through these times. In fact, regardless of who you or your spouse is you should have a mentor from the beginning of your marriage. There is more value in this then I can spend time talking about here.

What I wanted for you to find encouragement in through this blog is that you’re not alone in marital strife. You also have free resources available to you everywhere, it just requires a little looking. Please, do not buy into the lie that other people in the Church don’t have the same issues that you do. One of the most fascinating things to me about the Bible is that life is in it. Not just random stories with no point or purpose, but real-life pain, heartache, and challenges exist within its pages. But something better can be found there, real, honest solutions.

– blessings

Christianity and Divorce

I became a Christian after I was married, but my spouse doesn’t believe in God. We are always at odds because of my faith, what does the Bible say about divorce? I hear this question or some form of it on a regular basis. I think the question should be do you want my real answer?

Being a Christian if we live it out loud isn’t always easy. Marriage is no exception. I think though the real problem is not the disharmony in the relationships that often trouble us but the fact we don’t often live well uncomfortably. I’m going to be incredibly real with you in this blog so don’t give up reading now. I can say these things for a few reasons. First, I am divorced. Second, I know what scripture says about this topic.

My daughter recently told me something her pastor said, and I loved it so much I want to share it with you here. It was the idea that no family in the recordings of the Old Testament were without some major flaw. I have not researched the truth behind this but let me just say that all of the founding fathers had issues in their homes. Moses did. The prophets were not excluded. Not one of Israel’s Kings made it through unscathed. I am saying this because I need you to see something else.

Families are just prone to be a hot mess. So, what makes you and me think ours will be any different? I will admit there is a strange phenomenon that happens when one partner becomes a believer of Christ. An unavoidable separation occurs. Jesus talks about the fact that when we follow him our eyes see things differently and our ears hear a new sound or story (Matt. 11:4-15). These are not simply changes, these are an unveiling of truth. That does not give us ammunition against anyone who has not had the same experience.

Think on Jesus’ example. He was ever patient as he met with people. In fact, the instances when he becomes the most argumentative is when he is dealing with the religious leaders who were supposed to be capable of understanding but weren’t. In every one of Jesus’ personal or intimate relationships his goal was to teach them what they did not know. He just was a living example.

When we talk about how we are supposed to live life when one person is on a completely different plane it is by using the model developed for us by the master builder. He never nagged, through images and stories he allowed his followers to see things on their own, he didn’t seek people out but instead waited for them to come to him. He didn’t abandon his closest friends; Peter, Andrew, Matthew, Judas Iscariot, James, John, Bartholomew, James (the lesser), Jude (Thaddeus), Philip, Simon the Zealot, and Thomas just because they couldn’t figure out who he was or see things his way. He also never saw himself as better than them. The one memory that should always play out in our minds is his desire and act of serving them on his last night of freedom.

I know that we are not Jesus, and these are not easy tasks to accomplish for many of us but let me leave you with one other thought. When you married your spouse, it was probably a moment of joy. At the time you said your wedding vows, you were most likely looking into the face of someone who meant more to you than any other person on earth. You probably felt a physical sensation of pleasure at the thought of them. You were driven by love, the only emotion and action that is required for us by God. A relationship with God should not diminish these experiences but deepen them. Now that you know what you do you should embrace that original love for your spouse, yes even in the arguments and difficulties that highlight your differences and love them even more.

Be encouraged to hang in there and remember to use your tools. Prayer and conversation with the Lord are still the best go to’s in times of trouble. Honesty and focus on God’s promises can give you strength. The community of faith can hold you up and provide wise counsel.

– blessings

Marriage, God, and You

You know I’m probably pretty controversial when I say to people that I don’t think Adam and Eve represent marriage from the get-go. At least not in the way that we do marriage and weddings today. There was no pomp and circumstance, no thousands of dollars spent, no bickering over who will be in attendance. If you’ve read the story of how Adam and Eve got their start, you already knew those pieces of information and you’re probably thinking about the verse that says, “for this reason man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh,” (Gen. 2:24, NIV). Have you ever read the next section?

Assuming that the next verse falls in line with this one, consider what it says. “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame,” (v. 25). In my opinion, this is what marriage is about. It’s not the coming together as partners. It is not the individuals; God could have started this idea of union much later – he is God. He didn’t though. In fact, marriage was always a part of his plan. So much so that many biblical authors draw a likeness between God and his people as one of marriage, and Jesus as the bridegroom of the Church.

Let me go back for just a minute. Today’s blog is about what God says about faith in marriage. If we want to answer that question, we need to look at Gen 2:25. There is more to it than physical nakedness. Oddly enough, lots of people feel comfortable in their birthday suits in public. Think about the truth of that though. There are few people in our life who are privy to the intimate, secretly hidden emotions and scars of our hearts and minds.

When God speaks about the marriage relationship he has with Israel, he is reflecting this need for dependence, honor, faithfulness, and loyalty. When we do life together with a spouse it should fill these places. It is not about a relationship; it is about a lifestyle. That is why Adam and Eve make a good example of marriage. They did life together. Every first that the world ever experienced after creation was done at the hands of these two individuals. Do you think there was ever a moment in which they needed to depend on each other? Loyalty wasn’t an option if they weren’t loyal the world as we know it would be far different, for better or worse. It isn’t really any different in today’s world. It is the differences between us that tend to create the rifts.

God warned us that if we let these differences seep into our marriage relationship that it could bring down great disaster. One specific area of that is in our devotion to him. When you look at these stories consider not just the willingness that these men had to accept other gods, but the outcome of the world around them because of their decision. Solomon married hundreds (literally hundreds) of foreign wives who brought their worship traditions with them, Israel divided and slowly began to crumble under his rule as king. Samson loved a woman who did not understand or respect his vow as a Nazirite, through her hands he was captured and died taking with him an entire group of Phillistine’s ruling men. The prophet Hosea loved Gomer and spent his life chasing after her begging and sometimes buying her return home.

The idea is simple. We are different people. All of us. We may have many traits or interests that are similar in nature to one another, but ultimately, we do not do all things the same as others. There are things that can be altered and adapted to accommodate a relationship. When we make these adjustments there is some change in the original. He likes waffles, you like pancakes. You stop eating pancakes every Saturday morning to accommodate him and now only eat them every other weekend. When you ask yourself if faith matters in relationship consider this truth because whether you want to admit it or not you will have to face the possibility of changing your relationship with God for that of your spouse. The outcome of that choice has serious ramifications in the present and in the future.

When we alter our core self, something becomes off kilter. Remember, we are made up of the physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual. These are rooted at our core. The world around us impacts them. We make the final decision of what will infiltrate our inner selves. If that event, person, or thing creates a negative shift we are left without peace. This has the potential to lead to unhealthy thoughts and actions.

This blog is not intended to make you run out and get a divorce, nor is it meant to break relationships that are not equal in faith traditions. Rather, it is designed to share with you a perspective of what occurs both in the physical and spiritual realm. You are more than capable of drawing conclusions to what happens in the emotional and mental realms. On the other hand, I hope that you will explore the idea of marriage and faith. You can make the changes needed in your current relationships to make faith a first priority and if you’re not already committed to someone you can consider the value of this beforehand.

-blessings

The Equality of Death and Marriage

I get the great honor of marrying couples. This might sound a little warped, but two of my favorite things is being an active participant in the lives of those who are pledging themselves to each other and being present when people die. Yes, I know they are far from the same thing, but there is an incredible amount of honor in both. I have spent many years hearing the story of death from a first responder perspective. It is a lot more like the crash and burn fallout of a marriage that is failing. The kind of death experience I am talking about resembles a moment of peace. It is a life lived, celebrated, and experienced that is now ready for rest. Isn’t that the kind of marriage we all are looking for? So, while death and love are not the same thing, they sort of are the same.

I chose to talk about marriage and faith today, not death and marriage, but I think death brings a reality to marriage that is often overlooked for the rush of joyful emotion that surrounds it. There is a certain soberness that attends the one that should attend the other. If you’re married, you might understand where I am going. We do not get a course in this relationship. Our parents often don’t model it for us in the best light. It is a learn as you go experience. It is living richly and poorly (I’m not talking finances). It is the best party ever attended – the marriage not the wedding – and the worst hang-over experienced.

Regardless of how you do marriage it will fill these qualifications in some capacity. There is no real way around it simply because every relationship experiences ups and downs to some extent. And we get choices in it. Things like how involved we want to be, how faithful, how many hassles we’ll put up with, how socially active we make it. Yet, even though we get to make these decisions initially over time the choice shifts to include the other persons response. This is where the age-old adage about not marrying someone from a different religion or even faith tradition comes into play.

When I counsel with couples one of the things that I remind them is that while today they don’t see small differences as any big deal, that will shift as the daily excitement of seeing their partner becomes routine. As this occurs the negative qualities or differing beliefs seem to tip the scales. If faith is not shared it has the ability to separate. Eventually, you notice that your spouse isn’t sitting beside you at church or doesn’t want to join the bible study group with you. Slowly the potential for tension becomes more prevalent.

But I am speaking about negatives. What about the decision to marry someone who has your faith traditions? There is also the ability to adapt new traditions even if you don’t accept the entirety of a faith. Let me focus on the shared elements. There is not just an understanding to pray for certain situations, there is personal emotion that drives individuals to join together with someone else in these ways. Your spouse who shares your faith knows the value of prayer in every way. Worship can also enhance your relationship given its spiritual nature. When in this space together you are not just approaching your faith as two individuals but coming together in agreement to bring honor and praise to something greater.

There is a richness in marrying someone who reflects your moral and religious convictions. You share a depth that goes beyond the tangible, everyday world. I am constantly talking about how we experience life in the physical, psychological, and spiritual realms. Take that and double it by two. Marriage unites us in these realms as well. If we are missing any one element of it there is a loss that exists even if it is not felt on the surface.

-blessings

Climbing the Spiritual Ladder

I come back to this topic again and again, how do I obtain spiritual health? I’ve talked about what the Bible says about it, I’ve brought up perspectives of what the social images of it are or are not. I have even talked about ways that individuals can experience spiritual health. What do you think it means to have this kind of health? Do you even think it is important for us to obtain or strive for? (Please, leave your comments)

I could create a list of items or exercises that you could use to gain spiritual health. All of them would work to some degree. It leaves me wondering though if I did this for you what would it accomplish in your life? Would you decide, like we often do on New Year’s Eve, to commit to becoming more spiritually healthy? How long would that last, a few weeks, months? Would it become a habit and regular practice?

In the last six years, I have completed a religion degree in Divinity and Chaplaincy. I have specialized skills to work with individuals from a Christian perspective. My prayer life is still about the way it was when I began this journey. There are some exceptions but basically, I did not make radical changes. At least not in my practice of religion or faith. Yet, I can attest to my level of peace shifting radically. I can also share with you that I recognize a downward spiral in my spirit and an understanding for how to alter that sensation.

So, what is the mystery? Did I get more faith from attending seminary? Did the education that I gained develop in me a more spiritual being and a deeper connection with God? What do you think? Oh, my friend, I hope you answered that with a serious NO WAY! I did learn exercises and spiritual disciplines. I did learn how to assess spiritual unrest or lack of spiritual well-being, but we don’t need to understand these things to gain a richer spiritual life.

My next comment might surprise you and maybe not in a good way, but I hope you won’t close the app before you finish what I have to say. We also don’t need just Jesus to get us to a better place. I’ve been reading a book recently about the faith journey of a young man named Andy Cochran, A Journey Beyond Comparison. In his book, he mentions the idea of Jesus’ yoke not being a place of rest but of a place of rest while we work. I love this because it echoes my belief that while Christ orchestrates our lives, while he alone grants us peace, while all that we have is gifted to us by him, he does not ever ask us to sit back and do nothing.

Look at the Apostles of Christ, they travelled great geographical distances regularly, they constantly had to seek out financial backing, they spent countless hours sharing the gospel message not just to unbelievers but to the new churches sprouting up everywhere. So, when it comes to spiritual well-being the same is true, it is not just Jesus but a focus on doing life around Jesus as our locus points. There is this constant movement in our life back and forth between that place in which our life connects with Jesus. It is not just doing life then coming to him in prayer. It is living from a perspective in which he drives all that we do. Sometimes that means we have to be quiet.

When we are in this place of rest is where we hear him, where we meet him face-to-face with respect and love, where he guides us, and where he lifts the weight of life from our shoulders and places the bulk of it on his own.

You see there is no Spiritual ladder that needs to be climbed. There is no security in doing the job right. I have several books and spiritual disciplines that I teach individuals. In a way it feels like a 12-step program only it is lacking several steps and there is no one way to accomplish the final goal. Relinquishing sin, perseverance, forgiving self and others, centering prayers, and being grounded in scripture are only portions of the whole. Meditating on God near a body of water or in the middle of the quietness of the woods are only changes in location. At the core of any spiritual discipline must sit the One from whom all peace flows.

In your search ask yourself how Christ is defined in your life? Ask how you engage with him, and in what ways your life finds its roots in him. Then trust him to strengthen you as you continue to shift your life so that all of you is centered around all of him.

-blessings

Isn’t Yoga Satanic?

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

Paul’s Take on Being Healthy

Can you imagine being the Apostle Paul? Here was a man who had everything going for him. His career, his finances, his future they were all secure. His father had secured him a place in society both monetarily and socially. If we were to look at Paul in today’s world, he might be the son of a Fortune 500 business leader. His parents would be those in the inner crowd who engaged in conversation with Hollywood’s elite as well as those in high-ranking military or political positions. He could move comfortably in public as his name and face were recognized among the ranks.

My point being is that Paul had a sense of security. Some of us will never know the likes of what he was granted. Some of us have glimpses or our toes in the same arenas as Paul. That is sort of where Paul was (his toes wet) when he met Jesus and gave it all up. It isn’t the giving it up or the exchange of one thing of worth for another that I am writing about today. It is instead the fact that Paul learned that life did not center around these things.

In fact, Paul establishes this idea in the Church everywhere he went. The reason he did this was because he knew that anything outside of Jesus would not provide rest, would not provide joy, or peace. There was a little more than that, but for my purposes that is all I want to touch on. You see Paul knew above all else that if a person lives through aligning their spirit to that of the Holy Spirit the power hold of all other stuff in life will fade. Let me explain. If you are living in peace in your spirit because you are allowing the Holy Spirit to lead your decisions and journey, then when hard things hit you can retain a sense of security.

It’s important we see this from the perspective that Paul offers us. He was the epitome of what each of us strive to be in our own personal worlds. We seek to be the “best” parent, we desire to be recognized at work, we put our kids in crazy sports programs to give them that edge. Be careful how you hear what I am saying. There is no condemnation or judging going on, my world isn’t any different. But Paul had both worlds and not just a little bit. He tells us how passionately he lives both. (Phil. 3:5, Acts 22:3, 2 Cor. 11:23-27)

So, what is my point to all of this? Most of what we see done on our earth has been done in some capacity before now. That doesn’t mean we strive in vain, but at times it feels like it. When our focus is the physical our mental and spiritual natures suffer. The same is true if we reverse it. We can’t live solely in the spiritual and disregard the physical. Remember the story of Jesus in the wilderness without food and water for forty days? Our bodies need nourishment. Paul wants us to see that our spirits do as well.

We are an entire body of multiple and unique systems. When I come to you week after week and talk about spiritual health it is because this is the one area of our beings in which we tend to do the least amount of care. Yet, Paul says to forsake it leads us to death (Romans 8:6). In the weeks to come, I will break down some things that you can do to help care for your spiritual self. I hope that you will be curious enough to join me.

– blessings

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