This world can be exhausting. We rise to cries of children or pulsing alarm clocks, gulp down a quick breakfast or skip it altogether, often rushing out the door to attack or be attacked by another day.

Just when we think we’re keeping up quite well with the ever-quickening pace of the crowd, our feet slip and we get trampled. We hobble home bruised and wearied, only to be met with another set of needs that only appears to be increasing. Home repairs to be done, cars to be washed, clothes to be cleaned, kids to be fed and bathed.

When we go through these motions each day without getting energized ourselves, life really does become a daily grind. And yet – it doesn’t have to be this way and indeed this is not how life was meant to be lived.

There will always be more work to do, more clothes or toys to be put away, more emails to be answered- and we must fulfill our responsibilities. But our souls are more important than all the world’s “more’s.” And in tending to our souls, we will thrive instead of survive and flourish instead of fall.

What does soul care look like? It requires viewing yourself not as a machine that can go on producing and working til the end, but a whole person to be valued – one with physical, emotional, and deep spiritual needs to be filled.

Soul care requires time for rest and reflection. Time for play and fun. Time for deeper introspection and meditation. And time to just be without any agenda at all.

As Henry David Thoreau has said, “Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in reverie.” The world God has created is awesome and worth standing in awe of daily.

Feeling the wind on our faces, soaking our feet in the water of a pond or lake, enjoying the view atop a great mountain, or even stooping to admire the first flower buds peeking up through the cold, winter ground.

We have been created for beauty, joy, love and peace. When we deny ourselves of these commodities, we shrink and shrivel as human beings.

And there is only one source to tap – God Almighty. Every expression of beauty, every act of love that energizes and enriches us, every conversation that stirs our souls and encourages our spirits is a gift from Him.

So it makes sense that when we stop running, slow down, and wait in His Presence, we will be filled. Filled with understanding that we are not human doings but human beings. Filled with a greater awe of His power and majesty and a greater understanding and healing of our own self worth.

We may think we don’t have time to wait, but there is nothing else worth waiting for – He alone can satisfy.

Maybe you are running on fumes this week – or caffeine, or just adreneline – but you feel your crashing point is coming. Stop the madness.

Come away with the Savior to a quiet place and rest awhile. Let Him renew your soul and fill you with His loving Presence. Any amount of distractions will seek to pull you away from that resting place, this is certain.

For a moment…or an hour…or even longer – just stop, and wait, and let yourself be filled up, rapt in reverie.

And you may rise to pound the pavement like everyone else, but your heart will be soaring as you go.

photo credit: www.crowfieldsanctuary.org