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{Links can be found at the end of your reading.}
A Soul Care Conversation
This soul care conversation will require a series of pause buttons to make manageable the discovery and discipline of noticing how we react to rest and work, particularly our allergic reaction to them. I know this may sound far-fetched, but follow the parallels that I'm putting forth.
Physically speaking, there are many types of allergies: food, pollen, skin, latex, metals...
Although under control, I struggle from allergic-type asthma. Some people sneeze like crazy. Others get itchy hives or watery eyes. But whatever the reaction, it boils down to one thing: allergies.
Spiritually speaking, there are many types of allergies: grace, hope, rest, work, love, forgiveness, community...
Both our physical and spiritual immune systems have important jobs: to defend us from invaders that mean us harm. But when these defense systems make war on substances or virtues it shouldn’t, that’s an allergy.
It isn't enough to deal with mere allergic symptoms, we will want to go deeper to get to the heart and soul of the problem.
Defining our Terms
Here's what I mean when I say...
Rest: To cease striving.
Work: To engage God and others in one's strength and gifts.
Immune system: The defense system, the gatekeepers.
Virtue: The good and pleasant.
Allergic reaction: When the immune system starts to fight.
Stages: The distance between two places of rest on a journey.
Journey: A course traveled over a period of time.
Freedom: Where the Spirit of the Lord is.
Freedom is Uncomfortable and Disruptive, But It's Unburdening
To experience the wide open, abundant spaces of freedom that we have inherited in our Beloved, Jesus, we'll often encounter uncomfortable, unfamiliar and disruptive places, but Love has made a passageway for His communion to encircle us in His undiminishing comfort and shalom, dosed perfectly for every stage of the journey.
Breathe
Breathe in that assurance of His encircling muchness. Breathe in the rest that's offered in every stage of your spiritual formation. It will feel all-consuming, let it form you. It will feel daunting, let it rearrange your assumptions.
Yes, even in the hard to see moments where all you know is interference. Dare to see Love's invitation to know Him in the fellowship of suffering, a suffering that produces an intimate audacity where attachments, entitlements and egos are striped of their security blankets.
Give your soul permission to rest, relinquish, and receive. {Read Part Two...}
Be Loved. Breathe. Ponder. Pace yourself.
Until next time,
Scribble. Speak. From your soul.
Links for further discovery Subscribe & Listen to my Soul Care Podcasts
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