How Is It With Your Soul?
How Is It With Your Soul? Part 1
Several centuries ago, church leader John Wesley developed a small group that would meet together on a regular basis, and one of the questions they would ask each other was, “How is it with your soul?” Wesley understood the importance of community, accountability, and support in spiritual growth, and his group got right to the heart of the matter: the condition of our soul.
When we hear that phrase, we might immediately think of the salvation of our soul and whether we are right with God in terms of where we will spend eternity. But that wasn’t the purpose of Wesley’s question, and our assumption of that shows the limitations we have placed on our soul. We tend to think of our soul as that thing that will outlast us into eternity, and our soul needs to be in right standing with God to make it to heaven.
Yet, our soul is so much more than that. Our soul is our personhood; it is the essence of who we are, and it is intertwined with all parts of our body. Dr. David Benner, a Christian psychologist defines the soul as, “As a working definition, let us understand soul as referring to the whole person, including the body, but with particular focus on the inner world of thinking, feeling, and willing [author’s italics]” (Care of Souls, 1998, p. 22).
Our soul is the deepest part of us, and yet the part that is often neglected the most. If salvation is more than just the rescue of our souls to heaven, then our souls are more than just the part of us that live into eternity. (Do a quick online search of the ways in which the Bible uses the word “soul” here and you can begin to see the significance and complexity of our soul.)
Our soul is the culmination of who we are, the depth of our being. It is the part that connects us in profound intimacy with the God of all creation, but it is also the part that is most deeply wounded and in constant need of care. To ask, “How is it with your soul?” is to ask in the deepest and most spiritual way, “How are you doing, really?”
Spiritual formation involves tending to, listening to, and caring for our souls as the anchor of our being. The traumas we experience, the mistakes we make, the losses that penetrate us all impact us at the soul level. This means that intellectual understanding and emotional processing alone does not heal the soul of life’s wounds. We heal and grow at the soul level as we combine the emotional healing, the understanding of what we are going through, and as we invite God and others into the depths of our being. Therefore, our soul must be part of the healing and growth process.
I have seen people healed of emotional challenges truly with one prayer, and for others, through therapy, time, prayer, and the support of others, a much longer period of time was needed. But all healing takes place at the soul level, and this is why, as spiritual beings made to be in relationship with God, our healing ultimately comes through communion with God and the wholeness that comes through a lifetime of spiritual growth and spiritual formation. Therapy, spiritual practices, counseling, physical changes such as exercise, eating well, sleep, and sometimes even medication—are needful in the healing and growth process because we are integrated beings, with all parts of our body interconnected and in need of healing. But we cannot neglect the soul in that process. Medication alone, physical exercise by itself, eating well as a solitary focus, and emotional processing as the singular outcome, does not heal our souls and cause the fractured parts of ourselves to grow and heal. Our soul must be front and center of the healing and growth process.
So how can we pay attention to our soul in our healing and growth? Stay tuned for Part Two.
“Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him” (Ps. 62:1, NIV).