By Dr. John D. Eckrich, M.D.
Author of “Resilient Aging and Wellness”
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If l should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen.”
Recently, I came across a couple of additional lines that I cherish:
“And if in morning light I wake, Show me the path of love to take.”
You might have knelt at the bedside and recited this children’s prayer in the presence of your parents as did I, or again with your young ones. The words of this prayer succinctly encompass the core of soul-ness in each one of us. They portray the simple faith of childhood, but powerfully linger especially in an aging body, mind, and spirit. The words also encompass the core of soul-ness as the capacity to fear, love, and trust God.
As Christians, we know and believe that we have a spiritual aspect to our being. We each have a soul in which the spiritual essence of who we are in Christ resides. Our souls are what Christ came to save, and our souls are where faith and hope in him are found. God is faithful to the relationship restored in God’s creatures and creation through Christ’s sacrifice. God does not falter or change. In Christ, we are assured of God’s unconditional, unalterable love.
But doubt and uncertainty about the nature of our souls from our human perspective can creep in, especially as we grow older, and particularly in light of a deteriorating body or a confused and wandering mind. Additionally, we may find ourselves asking, “What exactly happens to me when I die?” We see and know that our physical bodies cease operating and will turn to dust, but what about our souls?
Much remains, and will remain, an enigma until we meet our Creator face to face and until God brings complete healing to a fallen, disordered, and diseased creation. But what we know to be true from Scripture is that the soul is mysterious and integral to being human and that it is a precious gift to each of us from a loving, continuously engaged, trustworthy Creator.
THE SOUL DEFINED
In Genesis 2:7, we read, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (soul).” The Creator God forms humankind not only out of created material elements, but also makes the material a living being, a whole, a soul, by placing God’s spirit or breath within it. It is our soul that flows from a relational Being, God. Our God is a relational God, a God who loves us and wants to be with us.
But though we were made in God’s image and were meant to live in harmony with our God, when sin entered the world that perfect unity was lost; God sought to reestablish the relationship with us. God did that through Jesus, God’s Son, who died to redeem creation from this horrid separation, from the clench of death.
Furthermore, the human creature may be made in the image of God, but is not God. That “capacity to love” appears to be a special, highly significant, shared, relational nature of the human creature and the Creator. The rest of God’s creation, and that would include lesser animals, relates to God as Creator and Sustainer, and man as their steward (Genesis 1:26-27), but, scripturally, does not appear to share with man or God the love-centered image of God.
So, God and humankind share a relationship distinct from other animals. Yet man and animals also share a relationship distinct from God; neither humankind, nor animals, nor anything else in creation are immune to the effects of sin. Both humans and animals have physical natures susceptible to sin.
There is a most important second aspect of love as a part of the soul of a human, and that is the soul’s assurance of being loved by the Creator. (Matthew 10:30-31 and John 3:16) I suspect, at the root of most of the distress and emotional ills we face as humans, the doubting that we are loved turns out to be the very seed of our troubles. That seed of doubt is sin.
Now there is much speculation on how this redemption of our souls will happen when we die; we will never truly know the exact details this side of heaven. What we do know for sure as Christians is that, at death, we will be with God, joined with God in inconceivable joy, eternally. What we can know without question (because we are told so in God’s Word) is that God is loving, so loving that God sent Christ from the splendor of heaven into the pain of earth, and even into the depths of hell, in our place so that we could be with the Creator into eternity. God has the plan; God has the vision; God provides the pathway in Jesus. Jesus is preparing the way and the destiny (John 14:2-4), even as we are aging.
As Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 NIV: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
That’s good enough for me, and I pray through Jesus that it is for you.
CARE OF THE SOUL IN AGING
Until that time when our souls are reunited with God in heaven, how should we care for our souls as we age?
Of course, you might think, is he finally going to explore the topic of yoga, or medication, or mindfulness, or the host of guided cognitive therapies or mood-altering medications, or aroma and phytonutrient self-help strategies for reducing the distress of anxiety and conflict and pain within our soul? As a board-certified physician, I certainly know the value of many modalities to reduce fear and anxiety, alter emotions, and assist people in coping with all sorts of distresses to their psyche or their aching physical states.
Surprise, readers: I am not going into these therapies! If those are of further interest to you, let me refer you to my earlier book, “Fear, Anxiety and Wellness,” or refer you to your personal physician or mental health guide. I’m not addressing these care modalities because, frankly, they don’t get at the very core reality and foundational illness harming us—the scourge of sin on our very body, mind, spirit—our soul and all of creation. For this care you need God’s Word, the working of God’s Holy Spirit in your soul, and the ministries of those companions on your earthly journey who assist in bringing that message to you: pastors, priests, Christian educators and therapists, and your faith community.
Furthermore, in the course of any given day, you can “pause” (take a breath) and “pivot” (turn to the Spirit’s leading). I invite you to incorporate these “pause and pivot” moments to help you in the care of your soul:
► Many of us within the Christian faith community make the sign of the Cross when we arise in the morning or throughout the day as a sign of our Baptismal covenant—we pause and pivot by professing our identity as children of God on the forehead, lips, or heart (Romans 6:3-11 ESV).
► Daily, we pause and pivot by placing ourselves at the foot of the Cross, the empty Tomb, the mount of Ascension, as we enter the reading, hearing, and listening to God’s Word led by the Holy Spirit to learn, mark, and inwardly digest God’s loving relationship to us, and the Spirit’s processing and empowering of God’s will and ways to restoration through God’s Son, Jesus (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV; John 16:12-14 ESV).
► Daily, we are encouraged through the Scriptures to acknowledge and confess our sinfulness; ask for forgiveness and receive God’s mercy. We pause and pivot by professing our sin, partaking of God’s forgiveness in Word and Sacrament, and by providing the same forgiveness to others within our lives seeking restoration. We are called to point them to the Cross (2 Corinthians 2:10; John 20:23; Matthew 18:18; 2 Corinthians 5:18; Matthew 3:6).
► Daily, we are pausing and pivoting through prayer focused on God’s good will for us as expressed, centered, and anchored in God’s Word. One form of that prayer might be meditatively praying (Philippians 4:6; Colossians 4:2; Acts 2:42; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; and of course, Matthew 7:7-8 and Matthew 6:5-8).
► Daily,we pause and pivot by pondering and proclaiming our faith as one’s made passively righteous because of Christ’s death (1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:3-14; Romans 3:21-28, 4:18-25).
► Daily, we pause and pivot by participating actively in righteousness as we mindfully steward the gifts of our bodies, intellects, emotions, relationships, vocations, and resources. (Galatians 5:22-24; 1 Peter 4:10; Matthew 25:29; Titus 1:6-8, 2:12; Ephesians 3:1-3; Luke 16:11; Matthew 13:12, 25:23; Romans 6:19).
► Daily, by Christ’s power, we cry defiantly in the face of Satan and all foes brought on by sin and its sequelae displayed in an aging body, mind, and spirit—we pause and pivot by protesting and then progressing to live out our Baptismal covenant abundantly (Romans 6:12-14; 1 John 1-2,3:14; Galatians 3:29; 1 Corinthians 12:25).
► Daily, we pause and pivot when we acknowledge that this renewal posture is not of our own doing, but the power of Christ and his Holy Spirit, alive and working within us to mature our faith (Titus 3:5; Philippians 3:9; Ephesians 2:8-9).
► Daily,we pause and pivot by turning from self-gain and instead provide thankfully and generously of our gifts and talents to God’s glory and in service to God’s people (Leviticus 25:35-37; Psalm 41:1-3; Psalm 119:36; Matthew 10:42; Luke 6:37-38, 21:1-4; Acts 20:32-25).
► Keep in mind that we don’t live in these disciplines because it is necessary for our relational wellbeing with God. We walk in these behaviors and live life together in Christ because we are joyful and thankful for God’s mercy. Christ’s presence, Christ’s spiritual DNA touching, repairing, and healing our spiritual DNA, thus compels us. Participating in disciples’ lives in and of itself does not bring resilience; these are reflections of the work God has already created in us through Christ to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
Are we within the Christian faith community living perfectly? Of course not; impossible. We know ourselves truly to be the worst of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). But we are moved by the Spirit to walk, like the Emmaus disciples, our Baptismal journey with hearts on fire, daily (Luke 42:33-35).
I’m a physician, so one way to consider these disciplines, rather than as resilience prescriptions, is to think of them as wellness outcomes of the Holy Spirit’s presence, even as fruit of the Spirit’s working within us (Galatians 5:22-23). We remember our identity—who and whose we are. From our baptism and affirmation of faith on, we are new creations in Christ as St. Paul reminds us (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Remembering our wellness outcome status is important especially when we see no other human being, or when, because of cognitive dysfunction or physical separation, we are unable to connect to others within relationships. A discipline of prayer focused in God’s Word may then become the consistent conversation, connection, and link that is quintessential for our human existence.
Additionally, there may be particularly stressful circumstances that sadden and trouble our soul due to conflicted relationships within family or community. Does St. Paul provide what I might call clinical concise or “best practice” advice as to how we die to sin and rise to new life in Christ, especially in relational distress? I believe he does within his letters to the early Church.
In Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV, Paul invites us to three steps in this relational resilience-renewal:
► “Put off your old self.” This is the process of confession, and it involves a recognition of your deeply embedded, automated, behavioral responses to stress, fear, and challenges (v. 22).
► “Be made new in the attitude of your minds.” Through prayer, be in Christ’s presence. This requires you to do a reality check of yourself. You need to ask is it more important to protect your personal feelings, or to be in the healing and highly valued relationship with Christ, and subsequently with the neighbor you are in conflict with (v. 23).
► “Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Connect the actions of the body and the thoughts of the mind to the heart of Christ, His desire to be a peaceful and non-anxious presence is our lives. Instead of being a worrywart, be “content in all things” knowing that Christ is there right in the midst of the storm (Philippians 4:12 NIV). You then truly become the non-anxious, forgiving, and loving presence of Christ in all relationships.
We return to Paul's relational wisdom regarding resilience of our weary soul, and it comes in his inspired words in Colossians 3:12-14 NIV:
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all of these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
In the end, it’s all about forgiveness— forgiving as Christ has forgiven us. The act of forgiving can be so very difficult, but it is truly the beginning of healing (Matthew 9:5). Being forgiven and sharing forgiveness softens hardened hearts, renews love, and restores a resilient soul.
Once again, we can’t alter our attitude, being, or behavior by our own doing.
This is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit building and maturing our faith, healing those damaged segments of our emotional, physical, and spiritual DNA, and gradually guiding us to more Christ-like patterns of interrelating with our Creator, God’s people, and all of God’s creation. We are resilient because of our Redeemer! Live well in body, mind, and spirit—live well with your whole soul by his grace!
Dr. John D. Eckrich is a Lutheran physician and author. A chapter from his book “Resilient Aging and Wellness: Mindful Stewardship of Body, Mind and Spirit into the Next Season of Living” is featured here.