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“Behold, Thou dost desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part, Thou will make me know wisdom." Psalm 51:6
If someone could see the inside of your soul, the pathways of your thoughts, the flow of your worship, the landscape of your thoughts and attitudes, what would it look like? Would it hold beauty or ugliness?
A beautiful soul is cultivated and crafted over time by the elements that surround it and that pour into its inner chamber. One lives and pours out words, behavior, attitudes, goodness or evil from what is dwelling inside its borders.
In the same way that if one fills a pitcher with lemonade, and lemonade pours forth, so one must be careful to fill one's soul with all that is beautiful, true, lovely. When my children were small, I always thought about the verse:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Phil. 4:8
I sought to fill the moments of our days with all that was beautiful, inspiring, noble, lovely, good, excellent. Exercising vigilance to pick out stories and books that would inspire; seeking to protect my children from insipid, empty, dark, sarcastic, or shallow books, media, people was constant. I knew that I was laying a foundation for life. I wanted them to have such a vast amount of truth, beauty, love and goodness stored up in the deep vestiges of their souls, that they would draw from the wealth of true beauty the rest of their lives.
Such investment requires purposeful planning and active engaging in each moment of their lives. How blessed I have been to see that what I invested has reaped rewards.
My concern, today, is that many young moms, exposed to contemporary culture, don't even have a model or understanding of what is good. Christianity is mediocre and weak and insipid because the souls of believers are as empty, shallow and contaminated as the fallen culture that surrounds us. One cannot watch garbage and violence and adultery and not be effected. One cannot feed on what is shallow and not become shallow.
In the same way that cancer and diabetes are growing rapidly and devastating many lives because of the intake of what is unhealthy in our foods, products and environment, so our souls will die and become ill and infected if they are always surrounded by garbage, pollutants, contaminants.
One cannot pass on what one does not himself have, and so if we want to pass on health and beauty and goodness, then we ourselves must discipline ourselves to invest and pour into our minds and souls truth from scripture, seek out wise people, read great books and thoughts as well as protect our souls from all that is base.
Media is on occasion used for good, but it is mostly a wasteland of mind-death and soul-killing touting chaotic cultural values.
And so, as I ponder what I want to become more of this year, I must take seriously the cultivating of my own soul, so that when others come to draw from me, they are drawing from Him, because I have invested time in Him, His word, His wisdom, His truth and His ways. I am working on my own personal goals to choose how I will use my time, this year, to insure that I am growing in all the elements that are beautiful, true, wise, good, lovely, and I am seeking to guard my heart (and my soul).
"Above all else, guard your heart for it is the well spring of life." Proverbs 4:23
Seek out a time to get alone, away and consider how you would like to grow this year.
Evaluate what are the good habits and what are the bad habits that you practice and how they influence your soul, and your heart and consequently, your worship of God, as we are commanded to worship Him in our minds.
Make a plan of how you will grow in wisdom, beauty and truth this year. What will you read? When will you have a quiet time? What do you need to stop doing?
Make a plan for all the ways you will pour beauty, goodness, wisdom and truth into your children this year. What books and stories will you read to them? When will you have devotionals with them? How do you need to change to reflect love and graciousness to them so that they will form their relationship habits on gentleness and generous love?
God’s goodness is mentioned over 110 times in scripture.
The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Psalm 145:9
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6
Every once in a while, I spontaneously take a photo of myself, whatever I am doing, to send to my grandchildren. You see, they are always on my mind, in my thoughts. I want them to know that I love them, every day, all the time. I pray for them. I plan for times of fun when we can be together. I pray that their hearts would know and understand the goodness and love of God because they have seen it in me and in their parents and in those around them.
They are storing up a clear picture of God through those of us who are acting out His tangible love and grace in day to day realities in their lives. And hopefully when they are teens and more aware of a fallen, chaotic world, they will remember, “But I have seen, learned, and felt the goodness and love of God throughout my life, and I believe there is light, hope, goodness to be found in this troublesome world.”