If you go to Google and search for self-care, you’ll get just north of 2.5 billion results. Searching for soul-care will get you less than half of that.
This isn’t surprising, though I’d like to suggest that it should be alarming. And by alarming, it should wake us up like our phones do every morning because taking care of the self more than — or even instead of — taking care of our souls is like rearranging the furniture on the deck of the Titanic.
Ok, since none of us were ever on the Titanic, how about this analogy: prioritizing self-care over soul-care is like organizing your house as it burns down around you.
[Tweet “Prioritizing self-care over soul-care is like organizing your house as it burns down around you.”]It doesn’t mean that organizing our stuff isn’t necessary. It just means that it can’t be the most important thing when the container that holds our stuff is crumbling.
That container is the soul, and John understood why it’s so important to keep our care in the correct order. In 3 John 1:2 he told his readers that he prayed that they would prosper and be in good health just as your soul prospers.
Translation? Self-care matters to God, but God also knows that if we aren’t starting with soul-care, then eventually self-care becomes self-centered.
[Tweet “If we aren’t starting with soul-care, then eventually self-care will become self-centered.”]Soul-care would be the things that remind us that we aren’t the center of our world and that this life isn’t all we have to live for. A run on the beach, a walk in the woods, a morning cup of coffee as I read the Bible — these will all do that for me. They refresh my soul because they remind me that while I may be small, I am not insignificant.
Knowing that provides the foundation for a life that is truly cared for.
[Tweet “Soul-care refreshes us because it reminds us that while we may be small, we are not insignificant.”]
