Don’t Allow Distractions to Derail You…(One Solution: Spa for the Soul—Rejuvenate Your Inner Life by Lucinda Secrest McDowell)
How do you handle distractions?
This past week produced interminable distractions. They surfaced day by day, hour by hour, severely scrambling my brain…
At the end of the week, like a train wreck, my poor, pitiful self ran head on into my poor, unprepared husband. God Bless him.
John innocently walked thru’ the back door that afternoon and I commenced to share what kind of killer week I’d had, akin to a rapid firing machine gun, foghorn in hand…
The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back happened in the morning of day five-for-five of frenetic faux pas. Consumed with concern (close cousin to worry) all I really needed was time to recharge.
We have recently finished our porch and I decided with such a pretty day, this was the perfect place to do just that, RECHARGE. Armed with books, laptop, and a steaming cup of coffee, I dumped said pile in a chair. At that very moment, a large red blur blew by the window.
“Please tell me that is not our painter!” I said to myself. Sure enough, it was and he was going to paint, you guessed it, all around the porch. Busted.
I retreated to John’s office and set up again.
The phone rang.
The mailman made a delivery.
The dog needed walking.
The dryer was beeping…while a pesky partridge sang The Hallelujah Chorus while perched in a pear tree. (Slight exaggeration…)
Like a doctor writes out prescriptions, my favorite pastime is recommending books. One resource I’ve come across is Spa for the Soul: Rejuvenate Your Inner Life by Lucinda Secrest McDowell. It literally rejuvenated my about-to-blow-a-gasket soul.
Lucinda says, “We need rest for our souls as well as rejuvenation of our bodies…Most women go to a spa for physical refreshment, we must recognize our NEED for spiritual renewal in the inner person…our soul.”
Alice Gray, who co-wrote The Worn Out Woman: When Life is Full and Your Spirit is Empty, said, “Soul nurturing is NOT OPTIONAL. It’s not a luxury, but a necessity. I could almost define the worn-out woman…
… as a person who has allowed her soul to parch and wither because, for one reason or another, she has not been able to spend time beside still waters.”
Lucinda then teaches us the word spa is an acronym coming from the Latin Salus Per Aquam which means “health by water.” At the end of each chapter, she also gives us a different “spa”: Spiritual Personal Assessment. These are excellent.
Jesus is called the Living Water in Scripture. Remember in John 4 when Jesus offers living water to the Woman at the Well? And if we believe in Him, out of our hearts will flow rivers of living water? (John 7:38)
I recently learned that trees are many times used metaphorically in the Bible for us humans. We’re called to put down our roots by the life-giving water. (Jeremiah 17:7-8 and Psalm 92:12-14, for example.)
Why do I forget the very same rejuvenation by still waters is right in God’s Word?
Satan is at the helm of driving distractions our way. Be aware! He can scramble us into a frustrating froth exactly as he did to me all week long–to the point I had to ask my friends to pray for unscrambling. God Bless ‘em. The power of prayer did indeed bring clarity. We praise you, Lord.
Next time you’re derailed by a distraction, retreat into God’s Word.
Put on the Armor of God. (Ephesians 6:10-18)
Put down your roots in the life-giving water to soothe your soul. And while you’re at it, treat yourself to a glorious bubble bath. A petite spa is better than no spa at all, right???!!!
‘Til next time!