Take Care Of Your Soul
“Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.” ~ Luther Burbank
I think one of the biggest lessons for children to learn is to take responsibility for their own feelings and actions. So many times, they say that someone “made” them do something when, in reality, they became angry and decided to take it out on another. We are responsible for our feelings. We are responsible for our actions. We are responsible for everything that comes from us. Yes, other people, experiences, or circumstances may have contributed to our feeling a certain way; but, they did not force our feelings on us nor did they force our actions.
It is much easier to blame someone else, though. In doing so, we are saying that we have no responsibility at all. We place the responsibility for our thoughts and actions on others. Isn’t it ironic, though, that we rarely give credit to others when things go well or when we succeed in great measure?
When we try to cede responsibility to someone else, we fail to monitor ourselves and we can find ourselves in trouble rather quickly. This not only works in our physical lives in this world, it also applies to our spiritual lives. There are too many times that we expect God to take us by the hand and force us to do one thing, to say another thing, like some kind of puppet master. Then, when our lives are complete, He pulls us up to heaven.
It doesn’t work that way. We are responsible for our spiritual lives as well. We are the ones responsible for our souls. God will give us the grace that we need to take care of our souls; but, He will not do it for us against our own wishes. Remember, God has given us free will. We are the ones, ultimately, who choose whether or not we will live with God in eternity. The proof of our desire to be with God will be the shape of our souls when we present ourselves to Him for our particular judgment.
When we face God, we will not be able to claim that others “made” us the way that we are. God knows — as we do — that each word and deed was done freely and it will be time to accept the consequences for those words and deeds.
Take a good look at the condition of your soul today. If you see any weeds growing in that garden, pull them out before they take root and cause you greater problems.
FAITH ACTION: Make sure to take the time to pray today as well as to perform corporal and/or spiritual works of mercy in order to tend to your soul.