“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”- Genesis 2:7
Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You is the most recent book from author and pastor John Ortberg. In the Foreword by Dr. Henry Cloud, Dr. Cloud explains the consequences of ignoring our interior life (soul):
” . . . we all have issues in life that emanate from our souls, from parts of the soul that have been ignored. It is the human condition; we ignore our internal life, and as a result, we do not have the outside ‘life’ that we desire, relationally or functionally.”
Our soul, our interior life, is not a temporary state. Nor is our interior life to be compartmentalized and defined as a focus for our “quiet time” or our spiritual journey- what Dr. Cloud calls “a religious sector for the time being.”
Our soul, Dr. Cloud emphasizes, is the ultimate reality of who we are, superseding today’s circumstance or context. Because your interior life is the eternal now that will become the eternal you, that realization is a wake-up call and motivator to take a diligent interest and stewardship of this life God breathed into us.
Today’s question: Following your vocation loss, to what extent have you ignored your interior life? Please share.
Coming Monday: the new Short Meditation, “Lessons from an amaryllis”
Tomorrow’s blog: “Our Father’s face”
