February 18, 2021

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying this day. We have had a little snow today but we hope to do an outdoor walk later this afternoon. We had a very good worship experience at the Ash Wed. service last night and the ashes were put on us outside as we left by the pastor who stood there in the cold. This morning I did food prep and cleaned our apartment as we have company coming this afternoon. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Soul is mentioned many times in the Bible and we are to pay attention and nourish our souls. I am reading John Ortberg’s book on Soul Keeping and it speaks to me of the importance of good soul care. John himself was greatly influenced by Dallas Willard, who was a professor of philosophy at USC, and who has since died. Some time ago Al and I went to Chicago and heard him speak and I remember having to listen intently to understand the depth of his talk. He was brilliant and yet so ordinary in his everyday life. He taught John about eliminating hurry from his life and said, “Hurry is the great enemy of the spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” Even as John visited him at his home, when his phone rang, he never gave it a thought; he simply didn’t answer it but gave his attention to John. Dallas also taught John so much about how our souls matter. He said, “The most important thing in your life, is not what you do; it’s who you become.” It’s not trying to improve our reputation or circumstances of our outer world or accomplishing more but its more about what is happening inside of us. Soul is the deepest part of us and the whole person. Soul is hard to define and it is our life center, something eternal, invisible, and needs care. It integrates our will, our mind, and our body, and if it is healthy there is harmony between them. Dallas told John, “You’re a soul made by God, made for God, and made to need God, which means you were not made to be self-sufficient.” When we lose our soul, he compares it to a car without a steering wheel and waiting to crash for we no longer have a healthy center. When we focus on ourself we neglect our souls; but when we see life through the lens of our connection with God, our souls thrive. Of course, we are to give attention to our work, family and others, but our soul should lie at the center of them. That way even when our circumstances are not good, our soul can still be at peace. Notice all the songs we sing about soul, “Jesus, lover of my soul,” “Then sings my soul my Savior God to Thee” etc. Let us be centered in the Lord and take time for soul each day!

Challenge for today: Find a place to be alone with the Lord, preferably outside, and let your soul experience his love.