How are you Feeling?

Some days, I could care less.

Other days, I couldn’t care more.

It doesn’t matter what the topic is… there are days when my feelings get bullied by my logic, and other days when my emotions want to rule my life.

**How are you feeling?**

It’s the question that you are either ask too much or ask too little. Why is that?

In his book “The Emotionally Healthy Church Planter,” Pete Scazzero masterfully points out that ministry can overload our emotions, between the harsh realities we walk through to the celebrations we’d never have imagined we’d be a part of. The challenge is that spiritual health and emotional health are different, even though they overlap.

Emotional health concerns itself with:

naming/recognizing/managing our own feelings
identifying and having active compassion for others
initiating and maintaining close and meaningful relationships
breaking free from self-destructive patterns
being aware of how our past impacts our present
developing the capacity to clearly express our thoughts and feelings
respecting and loving others without having to change them
clearly, directly, and respectfully asking for what we need, want, or prefer
accurately assessing our own strengths, limits, and weaknesses, and freely sharing them with others
developing the capacity to maturely resolve conflicts • distinguishing and appropriately expressing our sexuality and sensuality
grieving well

Focusing on spiritual health tends to take a different approach:

awakening and surrendering to God’s love in every situation
positioning ourselves to hear God and remember His presence in all we do
communing with God, allowing Him to fully dwell in the depth of our being
practicing silence, solitude, and a life of unceasing prayer
attentively resting in the presence of God
understanding that the goal of life is a loving union with Jesus
finding the true essence of who we are in God
loving others out of a life of love for God
developing a rhythm of life that enables us to remember God
adapting and using historic practices of spirituality that are applicable today
living in a committed community that passionately loves Jesus

(Thanks again to Pete Scazzero for that compilation)

I was reading this and wondering how well I do at integrating the two versus focusing on one more than the other. I’m not sure I have a magic formula to offer you, as much as I wanted to raise the question with you. I get the sense I’m not the only one out there who feels up and down, sometimes without knowing why.

What if that’s why Jesus says the greatest commandment is to love God…

with all your heart…
AND, with all your soul…
AND, with all your mind…
AND, with all your strength?

Not doing this creates the tension that Eric Samuel Timm addresses in “Static Jedi”: Life feels like a dangerous place when we are stripped of our ability to hear God clearly.