Soul

Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul

Worship His Holy name

Sing like never before, O my soul….

A Song by Matt Redman here

What do you think of and how do you feel when you hear the word “soul”?   I’ve been doing some “soul searching” for the past several weeks as I try to discern what God wants me to learn and share about the soul.   It’s one of those things that I think I have intuition about, but struggled to put into words, and yet this is the word I was attracted to write about for Advent.

My soul is my center, that spark of the eternal that God put in me when I was conceived.  It is so integral to me; it is hard to “step outside” myself and “see it.” It is who I am and that authentic self, that child of God, that He loves. I feel grounded, rooted, authentic, centered, balanced, and joyful when I let God’s light shine through my soul.  I am trying to understand something that is a mystery to be experienced.  It is not measurable, and yet we somehow sense it.  We feel it.  We see it in each other’s eyes, or in a gesture of kindness, or in a child’s wonder at the world, or in those we love.   My Dad has had dementia for the past 6 years, and I been with him the past year and a half and watched as his memory leaks away… it comes and goes and yet gradually is less and less.  But even as his memory fades and he struggles to remember places and names, and sometimes even who he is, I am still keenly aware that his soul is with us. He is still the kind, patient, funny person that I’ve known all my life.  There is that presence about him that is his soul.  And some day, God will call him, and you, and me home, and our souls will move to be with God again. Mary Weber #soul #adventword