I’m curious, how many of you made a New Year’s resolution this year? How many of you have broken them already?
There is a long tradition of making New Year’s resolutions. It’s an opportunity to reflect on our current actions and set goals to achieve, or make resolutions to change. Typically, resolutions have to do with losing weight, improving health, exercising more, increasing business, or making more personal and family time.
But one thing about New Year’s resolutions is that, for most of us, we don’t continue with them; we don’t succeed and then we can take the mentality that we’re a failure.
I received an email from author Robert V. Taylor, where he talked about giving up on New Year’s resolutions because he realized that they were “quickly consigned to a closet to gather dust.” Then he talked about a conversation with a wise friend that led him to wonder, what it would be like, instead of making a resolution, to select a word as his companion and mantra for the year ahead. What a novel idea.
A new practice for choosing a new way to be in the New Year ahead. What words would you choose? Creativity? Awareness? Imagination? Love? Friendship? Abundance? Healing?
This is not my New Year’s resolution, but I made a decision to go back to the gym. And I started it in December – intentionally. In fact, I knew I needed help and motivation, so I hired a personal trainer. That works best for me because now I’m accountable, and I’m going to go because I already paid for the session!
So, the ruthless trainer is taking this physical body through the wringer, and I’m sore. But it’s a good sore! Many of us go to the gym because we want to see results, and if we’re going just for that reason, then it’s only about the outside – the physical. But for me, I know there are so many more benefits, like having more energy, releasing stress and feeling good. It’s more about the inside than the outside. Fitting into my clothes better and being able to walk up a hill without getting winded is just a by-product. So, I’m doing self-care. What too many of us neglect to do … self-care.
While most of us recognize we have a spiritual component we refer to as a soul, there have been debates over the centuries whether we are a physical being with a soul or a soul with a physical being.
Great thinkers throughout history have always recognized there is more to us than just flesh and blood – more than just a physical body.
Now, I confess I’m not smarter than those who debate this, but I know that our soul is extremely important, and when we fail to care for our spiritual side, we are not acknowledging our full humanity. Because, just as it’s important to care for our physical body, it’s also important to care for our soul. Self-care. Soul care. Recognizing the divinity in our humanity.
The Gospel of Mark reminded me that Jesus needed soul care. Mark, in his gospel, has Jesus moving immediately from his baptism, into his temptation in the wilderness, putting his presidential cabinet together, known as the twelve disciples.
Mark goes on to say, Jesus heals many … those with leprosy, the paralyzed, he was involved in a theological controversy over fasting, then Jesus heals on the Sabbath and really gets the religious leaders of the day all wound up – and they begin to plot to kill him. And Jesus says, “I need to get out of here. I need some soul care.” What better place to go than to a lake. So, he went to the water.
Now, we are blessed on so many levels to live in San Diego. But one of the beauties is that we live by the ocean. I love that every time we come to The Met we see water – the beauty of the bay.
I love to go to the ocean. A ritual I have is to watch a sunset over the ocean on New Year’s Eve. There’s something powerful and cleansing and symbolic about that to me. Watching the sun set, on the last day of the year, over the ocean, the farthest vantage point we have, however many miles it is that we can see in the distance. To me the ocean is healing also.
Another jewel we have here in San Diego is the Hotel del Coronado. When the legendary hotel opened in 1888, its spectacular seaside location attracted guests from all over the world. Even back in the 1800s, vacationers understood that ocean retreats restored body and soul, and 19th century travelers prized seashore destinations above all others.
What Victorians understood instinctively about the sea is that it was physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually beneficial and it has now become accepted wisdom. In fact, professionals from medical doctors to environmental psychologists understand that the seashore is therapeutic on many levels.
Sea air is always refreshing, and for good reason. Charged with an abundance of particles called “negative ions,” ocean air increases our ability to absorb oxygen. It’s no wonder, then, that a walk on the beach clears the head and helps us think more effectively.
In addition, the negative ions that saturate sea air are credited with helping to destroy airborne bacteria, as well as to reduce the effects of dust, pollen and histamines (which are linked to allergies). They are also thought to have a beneficial effect on everything from insomnia to depression to migraines (some hospital burn units even use artificial “ionizers” to speed healing).
Our homes and work places are full of positive ions – which we get from computer screens, TVs, our smart phones – any electronics. And being by the ocean washes those away. It’s cleansing. For me, when I go to the ocean, it’s always a time of inner renewal – and the interesting thing is, I live close by, and I don’t go that often. Oh, I need to do better self-care. Better soul care.
Water is also calming. When I came out to my family, I came out to my dad first (parents divorced). Dad lived here in California and mom in Wisconsin, so when I told him I was going to come out to mom he told me to take her by the lake because it’s calming and she would need it. I’ll never forget our time together and the heart to heart talk we had.
We read in Mark 4, that people were sapping the energy out of Jesus. There was a plot to destroy him. And Jesus said, “I need soul care.” If Jesus needed soul care, then don’t I? I should never be so self confident, so vain or presumptuous to think that I never need soul care. I want you to know I’m not talking just to you. I need to hear this too!
This is a new year. We’ve finished with the hecticness of the holidays; traffic is back to being busy; we are standing in lines; hurry up and wait; maybe people are sapping the energy out of you in various ways. Maybe some are even out to destroy you.
Verse 11 says, “Whenever the unclean spirits saw Jesus, they fell down and cried out…” We live in a different culture today, but there are still unclean spirits that we deal with. We, too, have our negative voices playing in our head, abuses and wounds we’ve carried from the past that we haven’t let go.
The only way for healing and soul care to happen is to face these things head on.
Maybe you’ve heard the term, “face your demons.” I’m not talking literally, but figuratively. Facing those negative voices in our head; facing that negative self-image; those things that tear us down; those things that keep us from being whole.
During the next several weeks, we are going to be looking more closely at practicing soul care. What does that mean for us? In life, we all have stress and pressure and it affects us spiritually. It affects our soul. We need to practice self-care. We need to practice soul care.
If Jesus needed soul care, then don’t you think we shouldn’t be so self assured as to think that we don’t need soul care too?
From looking at the teachings of Jesus we can find hope and healing. We don’t need to remain a prisoner by negative thinking, negative people or negative experiences. As Jesus needed soul care, we do too. Where are those areas in your life where you need some soul care? As Jesus reached out to others, so he reaches out to us. Let your soul care begin. Let the healing begin. Amen.
Rev. Dan Koeshall is the senior pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met), 2633 Denver Street, San Diego, California, themetchurch.org. Services every Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m.
