As this pandemic season trudges on, and we contended with February in Canada (my least favourite month – well I love celebrating Valentine’s Day with Karlene, otherwise February is not a happy month), I am appealing to you, to pay attention to your soul-health. I subscribe to Dallas Willard’s holistic view of the soul wherein the soul is the interaction of body, mind and heart. So, my friends, let me pose an old Methodist question, “how is the state of your soul?”
Who else is asking you about your soul? What are you telling them? Is it the whole story?
Our corporate soul seems pretty raw. By “our” I mean Canadian. It doesn’t seem hard to start a war on social media, or to find people complaining about somebody or something. Let me appeal to you to pay attention to your mental, physical, and spiritual health. If you are tired, weary (there is a difference), irritable, despondent, doing shopping-therapy or eat-therapy then consider engaging in the following:
Turn worship music on loud and sing along at the top of your lungs
Find someone to laugh with
Call trusted friends to pray with regularly
Do art (paint, sculpt, draw, carve)
Send a note to a friend letting them know that you were thinking about them – highlight something you appreciate about them
Call your pastor
Call a therapist
Dance before the Lord
Meditate on Scripture
Take a hot bubble bath
Exercise
Make cookies for your neighbour (I’ll be your neighbour!)
Take a ½ day or full day off
Call a Spiritual Director (I know some)
Take a silly picture of your family and send it to someone challenging them to do the same
Pray for the FMCIC
Memorize Scripture
Learn French or if you are French learn English or if you speak both, then learn another language
Write a poem or a Psalm
Look into a Seasonal Affective Disorder lamp (they are cheap online)
Stop cheering for the Leafs (that’ll help your heart)
Participate in the national FMCIC Rule of Life Initiative
The FMCIC is entering a season full of important discussions: doctrinal and orthopraxy. We need to be speaking out of a healthy space, so to be able to hear each other and the Holy Spirit. Have you ever been in a meeting with someone who is obviously ‘off’? Maybe they have had an argument with their spouse or a bad day at work? Whatever the reason, their presence at the meeting is not helpful to say the least, and can be distracting. You need to be a part of the FMCIC’s important conversations, but we need your best self at these ‘meetings’. Dear friends, how is your soul?
Bishop Cliff Fletcher
