Off The Tracks
Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Psalm 62:1
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:11
Insight
Rest and downtime are precious, but very rare, when you have young children. A few years back, my wife and I were experiencing this sweet feeling of bliss as both our daughters were off in dreamland. Unfortunately, as soon as the tranquility appeared, it quickly departed when a loud voice and horns jolted us from off the couch: "OH NO....WE'RE OFF THE TRACKS!!!"
We bolted upstairs to our daughter's room while the message continued to play over and over again. Frantically we attempted to locate the source of all of the commotion. Our girls, now wide awake, looked on puzzled as they watched their mom and dad search underneath desks, toy boxes, and dressers. After what seemed like an eternity later, we found the culprit: A Leap Frog ABC Train that somehow turned itself on.
OH NO...WE'RE OFF THE TRACKS!
That evening we received the message loud and clear. The same can't be said for many of us when our soul attempts to get our attention and alert us to the issues taking place on the inside.
We're in such a hurry caring for everything else that we often forget to tend to the most critical part of ourselves. We devote a great deal of time, energy and thought to the external world (bills, jobs, family, media, schedules, etc.) while disregarding the internal.
All of this running around is getting us nowhere fast. The full life we desire always seems just out of reach. In our attempts to get our lives moving in a better direction and destination, we allow our souls to become a train wreck. Many of us are "off the tracks," and we don't even know it.
Our soul is our life. When we neglect it, we aren't truly living.
But, when we slow down, turn our attention to the inside and tend to our soul, we experience the capacity to live in a way where our circumstances don't define us, and where we can love and respond to the needs of those around us without wanting anything in return. Peace on the outside only comes when we're attuned to what's taking place on the inside.
Wholeness originates from within.
Reflection
Where has your soul gone "off the tracks"? How can you tend to this area?
Why is wholeness found only from within?
Prayer
God, help me to pause and look within myself. Expose the places that I've dismissed or underestimated their influence and impact. Refresh my soul with Your love and Your grace. Breathe new life and new words of mercy in me. In Your name, Jesus. Amen.
