Psalm 23
During my time here in the States I have been living and spending time with people who have an amazing understanding of health, nutrition, exercise and how to make your body function at its best... they have taught me about a phenomenon called oxidation that occurs in the body (hang in with me, it's a little science for you but it's worth it)
Everyday the things we do such as exercise, talking, breathing dirty air, eating certain foods, even breathing and simply being alive.... causes free radicals to be released in your body. It sounds like a wild hippy, but is actually atoms with unbonded electrons that are produced through chemical reactions with oxygen in your cells. These free radicals are constantly bombarding your tissues like tiny bullets tens of thousands of times a day, and begin to cause damage. This process is what causes DNA damage, early aging, and can lead to diseases such as arthritis, heart disease and cancer.
Thankfully we have a wonderfully designed protection system in the form of antioxidants! For those of you who think you can only find these in homemade green tea, think again, all fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants! An antioxidant is a molecule that is able to bind to those nasty free radical electrons so it doesn't cause damage to your tissues. Think of the spinach as taking the bullet for your heart cells!
You can't avoid free radicals, but you can ensure that your diet is rich in foods full of antioxidants and prevent as much damage as possible... shameless plug for the superheroes of the food pyramid, fruits and veggies!
Anyway, it got me thinking about how being alive brings you face to face with what I've called soul oxidants, the free radicals of the heart. For sure there are big things that launch an attack on our heart, tragedy and unexpected loss, wars and poverty and losing that which is important to you...
But there are also the small things that you may not notice always that are causing damage to the deep parts of you, your soul. The pressure to perform and produce at work, the effort it takes to be happy when you don't feel it. Angry drivers, delayed test results, disconnection with those you love most. Finances that seem to always be a little under, having friends who are hurting, when you actually care about climate change but think you're the only one, winter days that never let the sun through.... Just being alive in a broken and hurting world exposes your soul to these damaging oxidants.
And parallel to the physical, we need an antioxidant of the soul. While I've been here, almost everyday I've been for a walk to pray. No music, no cellphone, no distractions... I just walk and invite Jesus to walk with me, and we talk through the day, about people that are important to me. We talk about politics and wars and how I want to get better at push ups... about my friends who don't have a relationship with Him yet, about money and work and community. And I listen, this is something I'm trying to get better at since I have a tendency to talk too much and not give Him a chance to speak!
But this time has been the richest source of soul oxidant, a healing, daily balm that means all those other things don't damage my soul. Yes they're still there and I cannot avoid them, but when I spend time with my Father, He already absorbed all of that brokenness and damage when He died on the cross, so I am able to replace the weariness of the world with the lightness of His Spirit! Like the words of King David in Psalm 23, He restores my soul!
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