Spiritual Therapy for Your Soul

For several weeks I have been going for physical therapy. Years ago I was prescribed P.T. for different body parts but this is a new endeavor. My therapist started out slowly and has increased the exercises that she expects me to practice between sessions. We have used technology and bio-feedback to make certain that I am moving the correct muscles. I leave feeling tired yet I do want to improve and avoid further decline. Each day I get out my exercise sheets and devote some time to improving because I can feel the results. And I find myself practicing throughout the day because I know it’s good for me–ah, achievement.

Sometimes we need soul, or spiritual therapy.

Recently I also started incorporating some discipline into my morning devotional time. I usually read a portion of an inspirational book most mornings but I was feeling lost as to where to go in scripture. I believe there is strength in scripture, yet I was wandering and lost for weeks, grabbing snippets of verses. Without much focus, my prayer life was also suffering. Then I remembered that an old friend had left me a copy of The Book of Common Prayer. I did not grow up in the religious tradition of that book but it has guided Christians for many years. Within that book is a section called the Lectionary that lists assigned Psalms and New Testament scriptures for each day. Christians around the world turn to those scriptures and to prescribed times of prayer. That alone can represent a special kind of unity.

Strictly for personal reasons, I knew that I needed more guidance and spiritual discipline in my time with God. Too much freedom can be a problem for the more right-brained people that sometimes deny need for life structure (recognizing that most of us are a combo of brain hemispheres). I think that is why God gave us the Book of James in the Bible.

I am considering other add-ons to my devotional time, such as reading and singing from a hymnal; playing my keyboard; writing a prayer; spiritual contemplation; neighborhood prayer walks, photographing flowers and sunrises, etc. A bit of structure also has a way of encouraging praise and creativity as a response.

Search for your blend of structure and freedom since that is the beauty of a God who gave us boundaries and grace–parameters and eternity.

Questions for personal journaling or group discussion:

1. Read I Corinthians 9: 24-27 and James 2:14-26; write your response.

2. What is something you practice or have practiced; do you continue, or why did you
give up?

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Karen Spruill writes from Orlando, Florida.

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