“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” ― C.S. Lewis
Never do I feel this more acutely than when I have to work but want to revel in His goodness.
I’m listening to praise music as I write about construction standards for a client. I’m not even moderately interested in construction on a good day, but I am quite interested in paying my bills. So I write about project managers and safety standards while “You Won’t Relent” plays through my headphones, and my spirit dances in rebellion against the hands and mind struggling to craft the most mundane words into something interesting.
I want to write about the deeper things on my heart, the passions of my spirit. I want to write a poem to someone I love, paint a picture or just look at photos of my precious children and thank God for the millionth time for blessing me so abundantly.
But I dutifully type about contractors and machinery instead.
And that’s when Lewis’ quote resonates with me. My soul was made for God; like a colorful balloon bouquet, it always reaches up toward heaven, longing to release from the tethers keeping it down. The soul must be tightly bound to keep it from flying up and kissing the clouds, as it was made to do. This body is the heavy weight that grounds the soul, that keeps it firmly planted here until God decides to cut the strings and set us soaring back to Him, happily flying free.
I don’t want to go before His time, but I welcome the day that who I am — the REAL me — bobs up joyfully away from the shell that’s held me, free to return to my Father and to all that is lovely and wonderful — finally, fully escaping and leaving behind all the leaden weight of this world…
“Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.“ ― C.S. Lewis