by Vanessa Smith

St John’s has some interesting parishioners, and I could never be bored by the spontaneous conversations I encounter. Very recently one such parishioner told me that the way she sees me is as follows: “If I were to hold your soul in my hands, it would have no sharp, spikey edges – only soft, rounded ones”. It made me laugh.

What followed was a fanciful journey of creative images as to what other peoples’ souls may look like – this ranged from fluffy bouncy balls to a china doll holding a lantern. Some souls hopped and others curled up occasionally. Fanciful as this was, it left me thinking of how little attention we pay to THE most important component of ourselves – our souls.

As Christians we understand that this life is NOT the whole story. Volume 2 will include our souls returning to God. This is made known to us in Ecclesiastes 12:7 “The dust returns to the ground it came from and the spirit returns to God who gave it”. We know this from the beginning of time – Genesis 2:7 says that “God breathed life into Adam and he became a LIVING SOUL.

Having recently celebrated my birthday – I stopped to think of how strange it is that we celebrate everything that is focussed on our earthly body. We build our identity in things around us – our earthly age, possessions, achievements, appearance and perceived success. I can honestly say that I have never stopped to think of how I would describe my soul – yet my soul will outlive my earthly body.

As Mark puts it so aptly – “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36 and in the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:26).

My mind joins the dots between imagining my own soul – and a story about a party of African explorers and their porters. Picture perhaps David Livingstone – with an entourage of porters carrying tents, supplies, food and clothes across an unknown landscape. The story goes that one such party had been pushing ahead day after day at an exhausting pace. At some point the porters were insistent that on that particular day everyone was to rather sit under a tree, in the shade, on a hill and “let their souls catch up with their bodies”. I have often coined that phrase when feeling somewhat worn out by life – informing my daughters that I was sitting on the verandah with a cup of tea to allow my “soul to catch up to my body”. Whilst always said in jest – I have realised that these weary travelling porters were possibly right on the button! They had it figured out!

God calls us to care for our souls – to tend to our inner life with God, the relationship with Him. Caring for my soul cannot be achieved by working or trying harder. A soul is not cared for by constant productivity – but rather by realising that I am human and God is God – I am NOT God.

Our souls become noisy with worry about tomorrow, replays of yesterday, comparisons to others and plans to try and control the things we cannot. Psalm 131:2 shows us the way to care for our souls in saying “I have calmed and quieted my soul”. The first way in which we can care for our soul is by being still – just as the weary porters did.

I sought answers for how else I should be taking care of my soul (with no spikey edges😊). The Bible is a veritable diet and exercise plan for souls.

We are told to Feed our soul with Gods word; To Guard our heart and soul as everything else we do flows from it (Proverbs 4:23). Our souls are affected by what we repeatedly expose ourselves to i.e. what we watch, listen to, dwell on, worry about and believe. It calls us to give our burdens to God – to set boundaries about/around things that continually produce fear, bitterness, envy, lust, anger or despair. This is FAR easier said than done – which is why I realised that I need daily exercises for my soul:

1. Morning Exercise – surrender my soul to God by saying “Lord, I give you this day and myself to do your will”.

2. During the day – I need to check in with my soul and recognise what is making me anxious/overwhelmed and “return” this to God saying “Jesus I trust you with this”.

3. Evening – I perhaps need to take stock of what brought my soul closer to God and what pulled it away during the day. Before going to sleep – my word for soul exercise should be “release”. Release to Father God everything that I cannot control and ask that He keep my soul in His care.

God is the shepherd who restores us – we cannot save our souls by our own strength.

Perhaps its time for us all to sit under a tree and let our souls catch up with our bodies. It feels like this time of year could be good for that. Perhaps you could paint a mind picture of what you think your soul looks and sounds like? What shape is your soul?

Gather • Grow • Support

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