Soothing soul

THE DEPTHS OF OUR BEING - Our soul is like an inner stream of water, which gives strength, direction, and harmony to every other element of our lives. When that stream is as it should be, we are constantly refreshed and exuberant in all we do, because our soul itself is then profusely rooted in the vastness of God and his kingdom, including nature. 

All else within us is enlivened and directed by that stream. Therefore, we are in harmony with God, reality, and the rest of human nature and nature at large. To refer to someone’s soul is to say something about the ultimate depths of his being. Consider Jesus’ teaching that it does not profit one to gain the whole world and lose his own soul (see Matthew 16:26). 

What does it mean to lose your soul? Can you actually do that? Does it describe anyone you know? What it means is that your whole life is no longer under the direction of your inner stream of life, which has been taken over by exteriors. 

For example, the rich farmer abandoned his soul in favor of externalities. He had laid up treasure for himself and was not “rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). On the positive side, we see Mary calling upon her soul, that is, the deepest part of her being, to “magnify the Lord” (Luke 1:46, KJV). 

The psalmist said, My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1) Of course the “water” spoken of here is not H2O but the water of life, which Jesus promised. These and many other passages make clear that the soul is the most basic level of life in the individual and is by nature rooted in God. We must take care to do whatever we can to keep it in his hands, recognizing all the while that we can do this only with his help.