Finding Nourishment For Your Soul

If someone asked you, “How is it with your soul?”, what would you say?

Would you give the honest answer? Or the efficient one?  Or perhaps the one that sounds spiritually acceptable?

This question isn't asking whether you are busy, productive, or even successful--although I would imagine many of us interpret our own health of our souls through the lens of busyness and production of spiritual fruit.

It instead asks if your inner life is alive.

The truth is most of us don't pause long enough to know, or are even comfortable taking a peek inwardly.

STAYING ALIVE....

Think about the most basic things that you need in order to stay alive:

• Water
• Food
• Sleep
• Air

These things are ordinary. Unremarkable (although are they really?). Easy to overlook. There is nothing flashy about a glass of water, yet you need it to stay alive.

Well, our souls work the same way.

There are small, ordinary practices that nourish us emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. They rarely feel dramatic. They don't trend on social media. But over time, they determine the quality of your inner life. These are things like:

• A five-minute pause before work, class, or an appointment to ground yourself spiritually and emotionally. 
• A walk without headphones. 
• Naming your anxiety instead of ignoring or stuffing it away. 
• Laughing with a friend, or even laughing in general. 
• Sharing something vulnerable with another person. 
• Expressing gratitude. 
• Sitting in silence. 
• Spending time drawing, coloring, doodling, day-dreaming. 

These ordinary practices aren't electives. They aren't little appetizers. They are nourishment for our souls, and the backbone of a healthy spirituality.

YOU WERE CREATED TO BE FILLED AND TO OVERFLOW, TO ENJOY AND BE ENJOYED

The fourth-century theologian Gregory of Nyssa described humans as vessels created to hold goodness, love, and life. Paul in the book of Ephesians call us God's masterpieces.

Imagine yourself as a jar. Not a fragile decorative jar, but one designed to be filled.

Here's the beautiful part: the more you are filled with love, peace, hope, and grace, the greater your capacity to hold even more. Your interior expands. And what fills you will eventually spill over.

Now imagine yourself as an art piece in a gallery. Not as an art piece tucked away in the corner, or hidden in a warehouse somewhere. But as art fully displayed. Enjoyed.

We aren't an accident. We aren't a project barely holding together (although it can feel that way some times). We aren't just a one time picture either. God is constantly working within us, expressing love, hope, joy, peace... each as a beautiful fabric to the overall work. Each as a beautiful color beaming through on the tapestry of life. We are crafted intentionally and with care.

You weren't created to run on empty. You were created to overflow. You weren't created to be meh. You were created as a masterpiece.

The reality is nourishment matters because overflow is inevitable. The question is what we want to overflow from us. Love or fear? Peace or anxiety? Hope or cynicism and doomerism? Another way to ask this question: What kind of person do I wish to be?

The reality is nourishment matters because you were created to enjoy the fullness of life, and God desires an intimate relationship with you. If we aren't caring for ourselves we limit the kind of life and relationship God desires for us. When we aren't pausing to just be in the constant noise of doing, we aren't allowing space to be present with the Artist.

The good news is that God never stops creating in us. Through us. With us.

So when we feel like we aren't fully nourished, God is there holding us. When we feel like we are drowning and our colors aren't as bright or vibrant anymore, God is there doing something new in our midst.

HEALTHY SPIRITUALITY IS RHYTHMIC NOURISHMENT

So when we talk about what healthy spirituality looks like, we talk about rhythm. It's not spiritual performance or trying to live up to someone else's standards or expectations. It's not how emotional we feel in any given moment. It's not even trying to become a flawless person who doesn't make any mistakes.

It's rhythm.

It's rhythm of sustainable nourishment that fuels your mind, body (because we are in fact embodied people), emotions, relationships, and yes, your very soul.  

To connect this with my Methodist tradition, we call this the "Means of Grace" or ordinary practices God uses to shape us, to build us up to perfect (meaning more whole or complete) love.

Ordinary does not mean insignificant. Ordinary means consistent. And with consistency, you become formed. Researchers have demonstrated that you need consistent practice in something before it becomes a habit (a truth bomb for why our New Years resolutions usually don't stick, because we don't stay with it long enough for it to become a habit.)

HEALTHY SPIRITUALITY IS NOURISHED PASSION

When we know we are created purposefully and intentionally, we don't have to hustle for our worth. When we stop hustling for worth, our energy shifts. Passion grows when our identity is secure. We don't shame away this passion. We don't need outside validation to tell us our passion is ok. 

We often try to fix spiritual hunger with noise. We scroll more. We try to produce more. We seek more external validation. But stimulation is not the same as nourishment. We can consume forever, but continue to spiritual starve.

If you read this far, perhaps you are asking yourself why this even matters. Well it matters because when you nourish yourself intentionally:

• You rely less on external validation and become more comfortable validating yourself.
• You react less impulsively and rely more on responding smartly.
• You become steadier in conflict.
• You recover from stress faster because you are more resilient.
• You notice God more clearly in the ordinary moments of your life.

Over time, your thinking and the primary way you operate shifts from scarcity to abundance. You see others not as competition, but as companion vessels. And you become someone who pours out hope instead of stress.

So let's return to our question: How is it with your soul?

Don't rush the answer. Let your honest response become your starting point. Nourishment is not about becoming someone else. It's honoring the image of God already within you, because it is YOU!

Your soul needs rhythm and today is a good place to begin.