Month: January 2018

Soul Growth

Ice pack on my Soul

(written Nov 2014)

I’m thinking out loud as I sit here with an icepack on my shoulder.  :-/

I feel quite wimpish to say that I have ended up crying during physical therapy sessions on my shoulder several times this week.  The poor gal wasn’t sure what to do with me…and my partially “frozen” shoulder isn’t a bad case but it kills, what she does to me.  And now I have to do the exercises at home…ugh.

I’m very determined, though it feels like torture innoculation or something…I’ve almost cried doing it to myself, but I want my shoulder back!  So I inflict pain upon myself because I believe it’s going to make a difference.  I do have my doubts!

 

I have to wonder if this physical principle can carry over to when God seemingly inflicts pain on us.  He’s after strong joints and better strength & flexibility and freedom of movement…in our lives.

 

Some possible parallels:

 

Shoulder:                                                                   Soul:

 

Physical trauma/gradual debilitation                      Emotional trauma/gradual debilitation

 

Unknowing neglect of joint/muscle                        Denial, neglect of soul

 

Physical Pain                                                        Psychological pain/spiritual pain

 

Limited motion                                                     Limited caring/giving/awareness

 

Annoyance w/exercises                                         Annoyance facing self

 

Decreased strength                                               Decreased resilience

 

Physical Therapy = a choice to cooperate, to embrace temporary pain to work toward increased motion (slowly).

It is “annoyance with a purpose”! 🙂 It leads to increased strength and the ice afterwards helps the pain and inflammation go down.

 

Where do I need to apply PT principles to my soul?

 

Perhaps there’s been a trauma big or small…that you have not revisited.  It’s not going to just go away.  The Dr. told me about my shoulder, “the sooner the better; the longer you wait the harder it is.”  It will cause pain and that’s so that you know it’s there and it needs attention.

 

If you notice limited ability, capacity or joy, could that point to a need in your soul?  What about the annoyance of taking a look at it and asking God what he’s drawing attention to?

It’s annoying because it takes us where it hurts, where we don’t want to look, but it also begins the path toward increased movement, freedom and strength in our inner lives…leading to the ability to love freely and give of ourselves…

 

I noticed improvement after 2 weeks of PT on my shoulder…I think we can apply the same process to our souls if we pay attention to the pain.

Try this soul therapy exercise:

 

  • Stop, sit, deep breath, in and out, close eyes, wait…
  • Then notice what is the first anxiety that comes, don’t push it away, let it sit with you and tell you something about your soul.
  • Listen, breathe, accept, open your eyes.

 

What did you learn?  It may be painful.  That’s a start.

 

And what could the “ice pack” be?  Something that soothes and numbs after a hard workout to chase away inflammatory thoughts…?

Maybe ice cream! 🙂  Definitely soothes the soul.

 

Better would be soothing music of God’s all encompassing love for you or a talk with a friend about what you noticed or a moment of casting a care upon the One who cares.  (1 Peter 5:7)

 

Soul Searching

Soul Bent

 

 

Our souls bend toward a negative downward pull;

 

that feeling when you get up in the morning that you’re not quite cutting it, you’re missing important pieces, you’re just not what you should be.  If we don’t shake ourselves and wake ourselves, we will continue bending

and descending into that way of thinking and welcoming “a thousand other shards of the curse…” as Russell Moore put it.

When the enemy of our souls catches us in those moments of self-disdain, we often, like Adam & Eve, submit to his taunts and give in to his rule when we are supposed to be ruling him; listening to

truth, stepping away from the accuser and toward the Creator.

 

The accuser convinces us we don’t deserve the gift of life, or love or joy.  We refuse God’s grace, thinking we need to feel worthy or earn it. We fall prey to the accuser’s schemes when he doesn’t have a leg to stand on (that’s why he’s a serpent).

There are at least 2 ditches we can fall into here with regard to this incredible grace:

2 ways our soul likes to bend.  (Ideas from Tim Keller’s book Prayer)

 

Ditch 1 = “Forgiveness can’t be free.”  ->I have to earn God’s grace and mercy through how bad I feel about my sin or how good I can make myself.  He can’t love me because of my sin.  I have to change myself. (Wallowing in self, Unbelief, No heart change)

 

Ditch 2 = “O it doesn’t matter if I sin, God will forgive me.” ->Flippancy toward the infinite payment for my sin, prayers are trivial and not life changing, repentance is really self-pity. I justify, minimize my sin or blame. (No change of false beliefs or inordinate desires).

 

Think of a father giving a disobedient child that has been forgiven, a beautiful coveted gift, but the child refuses because he feels so bad about what he’d done.  He doesn’t accept or believe his father’s forgiveness. (ditch 1)

 

Or think of the disobedient child knowing his father won’t disown him, acts entitled and does nothing of what the father asks, is self-serving and feels justified. (ditch 2)

 

How distressful for the father.

 

For those of us who lean toward ditch 1 – like Peter when he said to Jesus, “No, you won’t wash my feet” (I can’t let You see or touch my dirt) and Jesus says back “Then you have no part with Me…” John 13:8.  Then Peter begs him to wash the rest of him too.

 

For those of us who lean toward ditch 2 – like the Corinthians who were still living only for this world and didn’t see the point of living a different life. 1 Cor. 3:1

 

“Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” Romans 2:4

 

He leads us there to the place of being able to face ourself and let go of the thing that’s holding us back so we can receive from Him and be free.  That’s cause for joy!

*

“…we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain…but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships…”   2 Cor. 6:1,4

 

So, we receive His grace not because we tidied ourselves up nor so that we can just live however we want.  It’s a gift so we can walk in newness of life.  Free to love and give and go through difficulties with purpose.

 

What have we not yet received or opened that the Father so painstakingly paid a high price for, because we don’t feel we deserve it? (ditch 1) or because we really want something else, like our own way? (ditch 2)

 

What do you need to do to get out of the ditch?