I am finishing my book on practicing stoicism. One chapter is on learning, and it suggests that most of us we don’t take the task of learning as seriously as we take the training the body. The author has a point. If I go to the gym I feel good about my workout and “getting in shape.” But how often do I set aside an hour in the day to review what I’ve learned and where I’ve made mistakes?
Perhaps as I calendar my week, I need to set aside such time just like I should for “going to the gym.” I try to mediate every morning but that’s only a few minutes. I ask myself if I can set aside an hour or two for physical therapy and walking in a day, why can’t I set aside similar times for my mind and just as importantly for my soul and my relationship with God.
As part of my current career I try to write on my next novel for four hours every day during the week. It’s a regimen just like a job. Perhaps I need to reschedule myself to set aside significant time for my body, my mind, and my soul.
Oh how I love this post and the, “Love thy neighbor” writing too, It must be the Arkansas connection that pulls me to your page from time to time….Grandmother Hart taught school in Prescott for fifty years.
Yesterday I did as you suggest….a rainy Sunday spent listening on youtube as Duncan Cambell told about the Great Revival of the Hebrides and the old orator preacher, Leonard Ravenhill encouraged a deeper prayer life…..soul care….it has made a difference in facing the challenges of this day.
Yesterday, I came across this writing. Perhaps it will resonate with you as it did with me.:
“When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ and He shows His plan for me, The plan of my life as it might have been had he had His way. And I see how I blocked Him here and I checked Him there, and I would not yield my will, will there be grief in my Savior’s eyes, grief though He loves me still?” Would He have me rich and I stand there poor, stripped of all but His grace, while memory runs like a hunted thing down the paths I cannot retrace. Lord, of the years that are left of me, I give them to Thy hand, take me and break me and mold me to the pattern that Thou hast planned.
I am so glad He continues to draw His children and excite a desire for more soul care.
Blessings!
Your friend, Keren