Spiritual Soup for the Soul

Years ago I started a daily email devotional with two friends to incorporate an infusion of Jesus in our work day. Our respective environments were very secular and we yearned for the refreshing. The devotional was called “Jesus Breaks”. We took coffee breaks during the day; why not boost the benefit of break time by spending the few minutes in the work day on a Jesus break, better than coffee any old day.

I would pray and ask God what to write about on the way to work each day. Looking back now, I can see where this was the beginning of the ‘holy taps on the shoulder’. Then, we had email conversations to discuss and expound on the day’s topic. It was a booster shot of immunity to the secular world in which we walked to earn a living.

I bring this up now to make a point. We need a steady diet of healthy, life giving, and godly booster shots. We cannot walk to the table of God on Sunday mornings hoping to get a week’s worth of spiritual nutrition. We need daily infusions. The question becomes, how will we find the time to make this happen? The answer is we make a conscious point of replacing old, mindless habits with purposed, intent-filled actions.

Here’s an example. This morning I made a small pot of healthy soup for breakfast. I purposed last night to save the chicken stock I had left over from making dinner; I didn’t have a plan for it yet, just knew it was good for me and didn’t want to waste it. The plan started coming together as I put the rice away after dinner. I used the flavorful stock to make the soup from leftover brown rice, some raw carrot stubs I saved from a meal earlier in the week, a piece of leftover onion, and the green tops of fresh beets I am looking forward to roasting this weekend. The stock already had the nutrients and flavor from the chicken, garlic and onion. It was quick, healthy and robust. I exchanged an opportunity for a sugar-filled breakfast with a nutritious one. I made a choice to nurture my body instead of just consuming any old thing. I am satisfied by the full flavor, I am full without feeling bloated and stuffed and I have enough soup for two more meals. All from leftover pieces and parts I chose not to waste.

We have to do the same thing with our time and the ‘food’ we put into our spirits. If your work day includes ‘break time’, read from a small devotional book you can carry in your purse or stash in a desk for those tidbits of time and/or lunch time. Pick a passage from Scripture to slip into your packet to pull out while you stand in the checkout line at the grocery. Listen to Christian music as you drive, clean house and/or any other time you would have the radio or music on. Fill your ears and spirit with the encouraging words of praise rather than the tired old ‘someone done somebody wrong’ stuff.

 
We all have tidbits of time we can utilize to nourish our minds and spirits, it’s a matter of replacing the bad habits of wastefulness (just as in throwing out tidbits of perfectly good healthy food like the carrot nubs). Re-think how and why you do what you do. See where replacing the mindless acts of nothing, (like running a conversation through your head over and over that you cannot re-do anyway) with running a scripture instead. Nourish yourself instead of depleting your strength and energy. It’s a choice. Let’s call it Spiritual Soup for the Soul.