Now we know that by loving our selves in the right way, God sees that as if we are fulfilling the commandment to show love to Him. We are each the least of His brethren, and we are created in His Image. He is so gracious, that if we love our own souls, unto salvation, we are loving Him. He created us, He loves us with an unfathomable love, and He is knocking at the door of each of our hearts and asking to come in.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." *
He stands at the door of our hearts, and asks to come in. But do we even hear Him knocking? Is it possible to if there is so much noise—in our lives, in our ears, and in our minds? And so much activity, distractions and noise, that the sweet, gentle, loving, humble, kind, pleading Voice of our Saviour, Who wants to show each of us the way to His Kingdom, is drowned out?
The first thing we want to do in order to love our own soul, is to find quiet. To try and un-clutter and prioritize our lives as much as we can. And if we don't have the strength for that right now, to just find quiet moments in the chaos of life. We can all do that no matter how busy we are. And that's really a big step, to get comfortable with being quiet, with just being with our selves.
In the morning, after you get used to waking up and saying to yourself "I am an immortal soul", you might add more to that...."I am an immortal soul, with a conscience and free will, and the Creator of the Universe loves me."
If we do that every morning (and as often throughout the day as we can), we will start to see shifts. For instance, we will be happier, because we will start to understand that we truly are loved by our Creator. We will stop needing others to "validate us from the outside" because we have something more solid than that. We will start making better choices for our selves, in the Light of Eternity, because we understand now that that is not "being selfish" but rather fulfilling the commandments. We will find it easier to love others, and be patient with them, because we are loving ourselves, and directing compassion and patience within.
Each of our souls is the least of the brethren, and...chances are pretty high that it is neglected. And none of us wants to be the kind of person that would neglect someone. And that's how we have to see this relationship with our own souls.
If we saw someone in need, hopefully we would give some support, in one way or another.
How do we do that for our own souls?
We....quiet down and listen. The soul has a voice. The voice is called our conscience. The soul speaks to us, to help guide us. And the soul is fed and comforted through speaking to God.
The soul is "in prison" when we are leading a life full of noise and passions. The soul is sick, when we do not nourish it through reading of Scriptures and the Lives of Saints, and all the wonderful spiritual books we have in the Church. The soul is hungry and thirsty when we don't go to Church and partake of the Holy Mysteries. The soul is like one bound and gagged when we do not allow it to keep a conversation with its Creator. The soul feels abandoned and weeps when we keep it away from its Father and Creator, and its companions, the Saints and Angels. It is lonely when we ourselves don't even visit it or listen to it—when we run our lives as if all that really matters is our bodies and our minds and our ambitions and this life, and we forget that we are immortal. Poor little soul. We would not lock a child up in a room with no food, water, books, companions or anything to do, and then dump garbage on it—why oh why do we do that to our selves, to our souls?
You are precious, you are first and foremost an immortal soul. How do we visit, feed, comfort, nurture our souls?
Here are some ways:
+ Quiet down.
+ Listen to the voice of your conscience and heed it. It might tell you not to go somewhere, or not to watch something, or not to speak vulgar language. Or it might tell you there is something you should do, or someone you need to make peace with. It might tell you that you have false gods and wrong beliefs and practices in your life. We need to start listening to that.
+ Allow your soul to have its voice. Let it speak to God in very simple terms. "Lord, I am lonely, I hurt, I am lost, life is so confusing I can barely stand it. I am so disappointed that such and such happened. I am so hurt by so and so. I need You to fight my battles for me. I am overwhelmed and some days I don't even want to get out of bed. I need Your strength....." This is a typical dialogue of the soul with God. We all have struggles, problems, sorrows. We aren't meant to carry them alone. We are meant for Him to carry them for us, and then we learn how much He loves us and takes care of us, and then we come to love Him. That is actually what our sorrows are for. If we try to carry them on our own, we not only can be broken by the weight of them, but we don't reap the benefits. How many times have we met people, with great sorrows or handicaps, and we wonder how they are so cheerful and brave? Usually they are people with faith, who have come to understand that God is right there for them, and even in their struggles and sorrows, He will strengthen them and help make things work out. In other words, they have learned the secret to life, which is: Lean on God.
+Try to cultivate or further cultivate your relationship with our Saviour. Read the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. Meet Him there. Come to know Him. How can we love someone we don't know?
+Stop reading, watching and listening to things that aren't helping you. Read books that nourish your soul. I will try to make a blog with hopefully a helpful booklist, and for now The Way of A Pilgrim, translated by R.M. French, is a wonderful treat for your soul.
+If you are an Orthodox Christian, realize what a great Treasure you have, and really embrace it. Is our salvation the biggest priority of our lives? Make choices not to waste your precious limited time with things that aren't going to feed your soul, and search out better choices. We have at our fingertips the wealth of the wisdom throughout the ages—are we reading, every day? Do we know which Saints celebrate each day and call on them for help? Do we go to Church every Sunday and all great Feast days? Do we spend Saturday nights and eves of Feasts in prayer, learning about the coming Feast, and in preparation for receiving the Holy Mysteries? Do we say compline every evening, before going to bed, and ask our Guardian Angel to guard and guide us through this life? Do we say the Jesus Prayer during all our activities throughout the day? Do we think about our end, and what we need to do to be ready for it? Do we really appreciate what we have?
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." ~Our Saviour **
*Book of Revelations 3:20 **Gospel of St. Matthew 6:19
Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." *
He stands at the door of our hearts, and asks to come in. But do we even hear Him knocking? Is it possible to if there is so much noise—in our lives, in our ears, and in our minds? And so much activity, distractions and noise, that the sweet, gentle, loving, humble, kind, pleading Voice of our Saviour, Who wants to show each of us the way to His Kingdom, is drowned out?
The first thing we want to do in order to love our own soul, is to find quiet. To try and un-clutter and prioritize our lives as much as we can. And if we don't have the strength for that right now, to just find quiet moments in the chaos of life. We can all do that no matter how busy we are. And that's really a big step, to get comfortable with being quiet, with just being with our selves.
In the morning, after you get used to waking up and saying to yourself "I am an immortal soul", you might add more to that...."I am an immortal soul, with a conscience and free will, and the Creator of the Universe loves me."
If we do that every morning (and as often throughout the day as we can), we will start to see shifts. For instance, we will be happier, because we will start to understand that we truly are loved by our Creator. We will stop needing others to "validate us from the outside" because we have something more solid than that. We will start making better choices for our selves, in the Light of Eternity, because we understand now that that is not "being selfish" but rather fulfilling the commandments. We will find it easier to love others, and be patient with them, because we are loving ourselves, and directing compassion and patience within.
Each of our souls is the least of the brethren, and...chances are pretty high that it is neglected. And none of us wants to be the kind of person that would neglect someone. And that's how we have to see this relationship with our own souls.
If we saw someone in need, hopefully we would give some support, in one way or another.
How do we do that for our own souls?
We....quiet down and listen. The soul has a voice. The voice is called our conscience. The soul speaks to us, to help guide us. And the soul is fed and comforted through speaking to God.
The soul is "in prison" when we are leading a life full of noise and passions. The soul is sick, when we do not nourish it through reading of Scriptures and the Lives of Saints, and all the wonderful spiritual books we have in the Church. The soul is hungry and thirsty when we don't go to Church and partake of the Holy Mysteries. The soul is like one bound and gagged when we do not allow it to keep a conversation with its Creator. The soul feels abandoned and weeps when we keep it away from its Father and Creator, and its companions, the Saints and Angels. It is lonely when we ourselves don't even visit it or listen to it—when we run our lives as if all that really matters is our bodies and our minds and our ambitions and this life, and we forget that we are immortal. Poor little soul. We would not lock a child up in a room with no food, water, books, companions or anything to do, and then dump garbage on it—why oh why do we do that to our selves, to our souls?
You are precious, you are first and foremost an immortal soul. How do we visit, feed, comfort, nurture our souls?
Here are some ways:
+ Quiet down.
+ Listen to the voice of your conscience and heed it. It might tell you not to go somewhere, or not to watch something, or not to speak vulgar language. Or it might tell you there is something you should do, or someone you need to make peace with. It might tell you that you have false gods and wrong beliefs and practices in your life. We need to start listening to that.
+ Allow your soul to have its voice. Let it speak to God in very simple terms. "Lord, I am lonely, I hurt, I am lost, life is so confusing I can barely stand it. I am so disappointed that such and such happened. I am so hurt by so and so. I need You to fight my battles for me. I am overwhelmed and some days I don't even want to get out of bed. I need Your strength....." This is a typical dialogue of the soul with God. We all have struggles, problems, sorrows. We aren't meant to carry them alone. We are meant for Him to carry them for us, and then we learn how much He loves us and takes care of us, and then we come to love Him. That is actually what our sorrows are for. If we try to carry them on our own, we not only can be broken by the weight of them, but we don't reap the benefits. How many times have we met people, with great sorrows or handicaps, and we wonder how they are so cheerful and brave? Usually they are people with faith, who have come to understand that God is right there for them, and even in their struggles and sorrows, He will strengthen them and help make things work out. In other words, they have learned the secret to life, which is: Lean on God.
+Try to cultivate or further cultivate your relationship with our Saviour. Read the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. Meet Him there. Come to know Him. How can we love someone we don't know?
+Stop reading, watching and listening to things that aren't helping you. Read books that nourish your soul. I will try to make a blog with hopefully a helpful booklist, and for now The Way of A Pilgrim, translated by R.M. French, is a wonderful treat for your soul.
+If you are an Orthodox Christian, realize what a great Treasure you have, and really embrace it. Is our salvation the biggest priority of our lives? Make choices not to waste your precious limited time with things that aren't going to feed your soul, and search out better choices. We have at our fingertips the wealth of the wisdom throughout the ages—are we reading, every day? Do we know which Saints celebrate each day and call on them for help? Do we go to Church every Sunday and all great Feast days? Do we spend Saturday nights and eves of Feasts in prayer, learning about the coming Feast, and in preparation for receiving the Holy Mysteries? Do we say compline every evening, before going to bed, and ask our Guardian Angel to guard and guide us through this life? Do we say the Jesus Prayer during all our activities throughout the day? Do we think about our end, and what we need to do to be ready for it? Do we really appreciate what we have?
"The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." ~Our Saviour **
*Book of Revelations 3:20 **Gospel of St. Matthew 6:19
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