I remember clearly sitting in the church in western Pennsylvania when the preacher challenged me in a way I’d never thought before. 

She quoted the great commandment, the one from Deuteronomy 6 about loving ‘God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and with all your mind.’ Then she asked the new question — when any of those two are in conflict in my life, which would prevail?

Ideally, my soul, heart, mind, and body should all work together. That’s what spiritual maturity looks like. But getting to spiritual maturity takes growing pains, like the stupid mistakes I made getting to my age right now. 

So if my soul — my connection to God, my moral life — and my mind were disagreeing, would my mind outsmart my soul, or would the way of God prevail over my mind? Looking back, I have agreed with some rather shallow ‘reasons’ to do what I wanted to do, pushing away the soul’s reason for doing the right thing. I guess you’d call it lying to myself. I confess my mind has ruled over my soul before. 

Does my soul ever outweigh the desires of my body? I don’t always eat the right food and I’m overweight. This is bad because my body is a gift from God. But my soul sometimes has the weaker voice when I’m hungry for junk food. 

When I have my heart set on something, but it’s not going to make me closer to God, do I pursue it anyway?

Much of it depends on how we feed and exercise our souls. I know to feed my body, but when I eat too much junk food, I get sluggish. I know to feed my mind with new thoughts, but if I sit in front of the TV or internet consuming whatever comes along; it’s as bad as junk food for my mind. 

We can feed our souls junk food, too. I could feed on anger, revenge, and self-indulgence. I could be influenced by teachings denying the divinity of Christ (or his humanity, for that matter). 

Our hearts, souls, minds, and bodies are all together. They are not four separate entities that operate independently. They are interconnected to make me …. well, me. 

Now that I know the truth, about nutrition for body and mind, I want to apply to my soul. I want to give my body the best care and feeding, exercising on my bike for 200 miles a month. I will expose my mind to the best thoughts and music. I’ll feed my soul with the best soul food. 

I’ll not put myself down nor arrogantly boast, but I’ll speak well of myself. I’m going to call forth the best in myself, not the worst. If I catch myself dwelling on painful thoughts about my past, I’ll find a way to distract myself and get my mind on other, more positive thoughts.

A good diet in the kitchen takes effort, but it’s worth it. A good diet for the soul takes effort, too; regular church attendance, study, prayer. Forgiving myself because God has forgiven me (and I’m not stingier than God). I work on forgiving others. 

Junk food in my body makes me sluggish. Junk food in my mind makes me think low, self-centered thoughts. Junk food for my soul keeps me unforgiven and angry. 

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Randy Booth is pastor of Monroe United Methodist Church.