Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”(Jn. 10:10) Yet all too often, as followers of Jesus it seems we have lost something while on the long journey toward heaven. We have lost abundant life. We have lost our souls. We need to recover our lives and our souls.
The word recover is a hopeful word. The word is from a Latin term meaning “to recuperate.” We get depleted and we need to recuperate, otherwise all we’ll do is muscle our way through and survive, not thrive.
The Good News is that God invites us to live a different way. The soulful life is patient, not rushed. It is peaceful, not anxious. It is attentive, not distracted. It is over-flowing with love, not snatching for approval.
Soulful living is about creating that space in which something can happen that you didn’t plan or count on. It is about living life from the overflow.
There is a Jewish practice called Havalah, which is a ceremony that ends the weekly rhythm of Shabbot, or Sabbath rest. Someone will take some wine and pour it into a chalice, pouring until it overflows. This is a reminder that our lives are meant to be lived out of the abundance, out of the overflow. Not out of the tired, ragged, depleted space we often allow ourselves to get into.
God wants to fill us to overflowing so that we can live out of abundance, not scarcity. But, we are only as connected to God as we plan to be. If we are not intentional, the demands of life will take over and we will live out of exhaustion. That is not soulful living.
Susie Grade 