When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus responded with the Shma, “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, strength.”
I have been thinking about the different ways of spiritual formation. Paul talks about body, mind, spirit. Jesus talks like that, too. Paul talks about our bodies as the Temple of the Spirit.
I could go into strains of philosophy, but it is enough to say that we as a Western people have been guilty of splitting these aspects of our spiritual life into compartments.
What if every day we tried to develop and improve ourselves in each of these categories that Jesus repeated?
What if, at the end of every day, we asked ourselves these reflections?
Heart
What have we done to help someone else today? Did we pass someone by who needed encouragement or a helping hand?
Did we love someone?
Soul
How long and with how much intention did we pause and meditate and pray today?
Mind
What have we read today? Something from the Bible? Something difficult to stretch our brain? Something fiction or poetry to strengthen our imagination?
Strength
What have we eaten today? Was it the best thing for our bodies? How much did we exercise (walk, run, swim, cycle) today? Did we get sufficient rest today? Did we do something to build strength (Yoga, weights, and the like)?
Did we do it all to honor God?
Leave a Reply