Living Souls

With spring bursting open across our mountains, the image of a living soul as a part of our being finds company with other images of new life, blooms budding, grass greening and trees leafing. I am not talking about my soul as something metaphysical that exists apart from my body, but as my heart, my center, my core – what drives me.

In the first week of The Leader’s Soul , we were asked how we recognize soul health and soul neglect, and we began by listening to Jesus’ words in John 15:5:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

As Willow Creek Association’s Mindy Caliguire reminded us, vines know how to live. They know how to take the nutrients they need from the soil and how to harness the sunlight for new growth. The branches are extensions that grow and are strengthened because the vine is firmly rooted. Severed from the vine, the branches wither and die. They cannot live apart from the vine.

And, as Christians, neither can we. We cannot live the lives God intends for us apart from Christ. But we try. We forget this very clear teaching by Jesus and, instead, we try to live by the strength of our own energy and willpower. And then we are surprised and even hurt when we hit the wall, encounter obstacles, or simply fail. Thankfully, daily, we can confess our brokenness, receive God’s mercy and forgiveness and abide in God’s promises, as we hear them in Psalm 145:16-19:

¹⁶ You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷ The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desire of all who fear him; he also hears their cry, and saves them.