St Johns with St Barnabas

FEEDING THE SOUL

 

As I am closing in on my retirement, I am beginning to think what ‘last words’ do I want to leave you with? In her book, ‘Keep Wrestling’ Tracey Bateson, a former curate, encourages her readers to, ‘Make time to feed our souls!’ How do we achieve this admirable aim?

 

In his ‘whatever’ passage (Philippians 4 v 8), the apostle Paul suggests, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things and the God of peace will be with you.”

 

During my study leave when I was researching “Spirituality in older age” it became clearer to me that rather than ‘doing’ lots of things e.g. attending church so many times a week, reading so much of the Bible every day, praying for a certain length of time, and so on, to grow our spirituality, the Christian life is more about ‘being’ i.e. being secure in our place as children of the living God. It is about surrendering ourselves to God’s grace and mercy. It is about ‘feeding our souls’.

 

Some practical ways of ‘feeding our souls’ may include:

1. Go on walks in the countryside taking in the beauty of creation

2. Spend more time reading or listening to Christian books

3. Listen to inspirational music, talks or podcasts

4. As a Home group study ‘Soul Keeping’ by John Ortberg

 

As we move into a season of lighter and longer days, rather than filling them with endless jobs, chores and entertainment, may we find ways of ‘Feeding our souls’ and take a lead from St. Augustine whose prayer was:

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“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”