The Spirit Within

And Yahweh Elohim formed adam/man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

What is it with all the zombie craze now?  Everyone wants to be a zombie, it seems---to dress up (or down), to stumble around without purpose, to have a glazed look---like a house without an inhabitant:  to be men without indwelling spirits.

What is sad is not the kids having fun "playing dead," but the numbers of people for whom "zombiehood" is a reality---the walking dead, those who are going through the motions without spiritual life, those whose eyes are truly glazed over to protect themselves from further pain and disappointment.

The spirit God breathed into us has to serve two functions:

First, it has to energize us, motivate us, move us forward.  We say people are "spirited," energized, enthusiastic when they approach life with zest and joy.  That is the spirit within.  In fact, the word "enthusiastic" is a literal translation of the phrase God (theos) within.  Man is a "living being" only when he is spirited, purposeful, joyful; otherwise, he moves through life like a zombie.

The second function of the spirit within is to "hold together," or integrate all the aspects of our lives.  If we tried to hold in our hands and arms symbols of all the things we "hold" in our hearts and minds, we could not do it without dropping things right and left.  Each one of us is the center of a small universe of loves and concerns---families, jobs, personal care, outreach to others, etc. 

If we think of a high school student, for example, that student must meet the demands of 5-6 teachers each day, in addition to at least one sport or extra-curricular activity, family responsibilities, friends---not to mention the demands that modern technology and media make on all of us. 

Again, the working mother of a family must meet the multiple demands and responsibilities of the workplace and then come home to nurture and care for a number of people in the family, each one with his/her own universe of cares and concerns.  How do we keep from being pulled apart at the center?  What is it that keeps us "centered" and sane? 

The spirit, or breath of God within us, is able to integrate and eventually balance all the aspects of our lives, maybe not initially, but gradually teaching us what we can let go of and what we need to hold more tightly.

It is so important for us to be able to nurture and feed the spirit within; it is important not only to us as individuals, to but all around us.  When our own spirit is starving, we tend to eat everyone else.  When our own spirit is content and at peace, we tend to feed everyone else.

Even Jesus had to go off by Himself early each morning to feed His spirit by communion with the Father.  If that was true of Him, how much more necessary for us to drink spiritual water and to eat spiritual food to nourish our souls?

What is it that fills us up spiritually?