There are several aspects to an individual's life on this earth. There is the physical, the emotional and the spiritual. We really need to take care of each of these in order to function at a high level and to be healthy and happy.
Many of us take care of our physical needs by eating right, exercising, and being vigilant in other physical areas of our lives.
Our emotional lives are sometimes more problematic---involving interracting with others---and involves frustrations. Sometimes we end up trying to deal with these problems with drugs, alcohol, psychiatrists and the like.
Then, there is the spiritual health of the individual. This is by far the most overlooked area for most people. And yet, it is the most important. It is the one thing of this life that we CAN take with us!
Thus, it is important that we nurture and grow our spiritual life. It has been said that "We are spiritual beings trapped in a physical body".
I designed a chart to illustrate our growth. Filling out this chart allows us to track our individual progress through our lives.
Below is my chart. How is YOUR spiritual health and growth?
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| Click to Enlarge. My Age at Bottom. Growth Level on Left. As You Can See, My Spiritual Growth was Greater at Age 5 and Age 10 Than It Was Up Until Age 50. My parents Took Me to Church When I Was a Young Boy; But Then, I Rebelled and Rejected God For Many Years. My Reawakening Began at Age 50, and My Life Has Completely Turned Around, And My Growth Continues Upward. Note the Blip at Age 30, When I Briefly Flirted With Renewing My Faith. Thank You, Jesus, For Allowing Me To Live Long Enough to Experience a Real Growth In My Faith |
This is great! You're so right- we need our soul food for sure.
ReplyDeletewhat a great illustration. congrats to you clint!
ReplyDeleteMy spiritual peaks whenever I stop to count my blessings, and I normally stop to count whenever I feel a bit down. Or when I am too happy too, I will remember to stop and thank God for everything. All praise is to God and God alone.
ReplyDeleteI've found in my training that we are taught about 3 aspects of an individuals well being: the emotional and the physical, as you've mentioned and the third one is the mental aspect of an individuals well being. I believe as you do, spiritual growth is vitally important... oddly enough social workers are not taught this in their studies, not yet anyways and I do not foresee this in the future of my education. If I do a masters the theme of my thesis will be incorporating spirituality into healing practice and now I know just who to email now that you've studied up on it! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHave a fantastic weekend Clint! Oh and I did think about your other question on my drive out to the farm, I knew (or know) what I need to know about people. I feel that I knew my mother fairly well, she shared a lot with me yet there are a few things from her younger days I would have liked to know... naturally now that it's too late to ask the questions. I guess I didn't need to know certain things is all.
How well I remember this class you taught on spiritual growth. It was so interesting to see the peaks and valleys in our classmates' charts and hear their reasons for their peaks and valleys. You have some excellent thoughts and observations from your followers.
ReplyDeleteI think my spiritual growth goes up and down depending on the people i meet....
ReplyDeleteAnd if i ever gonna jack my BMW up your the first one to know!
Hope you have a great weekend Clint!
Leontien
Very interesting...I like your chart. It's interesting how you can look back at yourself and see where you've been and where you are now. That, in itself, is spiritual growth. I think spiritual growth is acknowledging and admitting our downfalls and continuously recognizing God in all the peaks and valleys our of walk.
ReplyDeleteGood post.
Love how you throw yourself into your assignments. Also love the line about spiritual beings trapped in a physical body. Very true.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. I'm reading a book right now along this line..It's called Meet you At the Finish Line ...just like a race preparing for a race takes extreme effort...so does living the Christian life ..it is based on Hebrews 13...it is very interesting!
ReplyDeleteYes, really a very interesting post, and a post to think about. It must be very interesting to meet you and talk to you for real.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend, take care
greetings
This was wonderful, as a mother we have the unconditional love for our off springs no matter what they do or don't do. With the expereience of life and age we do seem to be able to put things into perspective.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your week-end.
Yvonne.
Interesting chart! I'm grateful always that God is patient and long suffering. Have a great weekend! :)
ReplyDeleteYour chart is quite interesting and pretty much parallels mine though I pretty much missed the 30's blip. We humans do have our ups and downs.
ReplyDeleteArkansas Patti
Hi Teacher Clint -
ReplyDeleteYou are such a trooper, indeed.
Wise words Clint.
ReplyDeleteHello Clint, That is a wonderful graph..we all need to do that. I think I will, and put it into my bible. Spiritual is so important, living in the spirit is so happier, than in the physical, yet while here on earth we still need to remember the physical...
ReplyDeleteI love dwelling in the spirit..Your lovely Cindy, is a spirit dweller, it reflects in her art work....it will be great to one day meet you both.
God bless you..God loves you so much.
Crystal