Which Soul Are You Today?

“Repent and believe in the good news!” These are the first words out of Jesus’ mouth in Mark’s gospel, but do you know what they mean. At first, you might reply that the word “repent” implies that we have done something wrong, regret it, and promise to live in a new way. Repentance, understood in this way, means to live beyond a sinful past. Biblically, this is not quite what is meant. In the gospels, the particular word used for repentance is metanoia. Literally this means to do an about face, to turn around, to face in an entirely new direction. But what direction? In counseling, I try to help people turn their life around from fear and worry to courage and compassion.

Another way to understand metanoia is to imagine there are within each of us two souls, a little soul and a great soul. On any given day we tend to identify more with one or the other of these and we are a very different person depending upon which soul is growing within us.

Thus, if we take our identity from our little soul we will inevitably feel bitter and angry.  It is the little soul, where we are petty, afraid, aware of our hurts, and constantly nursing the sense of having been cheated and short-changed. In our little soul, we are paranoid and defensive. When we relate to life through it, we become shortsighted, impatient, despairing, and constantly looking for compensation.

But we also have within us a great soul. When we let it grow, we become a different person altogether. We relate out of our great soul when we are overwhelmed by compassion, when everyone is sister or brother to us, when we want to give of ourselves without concern of cost, when we would willingly die for others, and when our arms and heart would want nothing other than to embrace the whole world and everyone in it.

I witnessed this “great soul” of compassion when a nurse was caring for a survivor of senseless violence. He had been shot and the bullet grazed his head that required ten stitches to close up. She listened to the young man’s panic and fears and after his story gave him a hug and told him that the staff would always be there for him. This is the great soul.

Let us pray to the Lord and remember: “Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield. “ (Psalm 33: 20).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that the “great soul” grows strong in our hearts. May we be the eyes of Jesus who accept anyone who comes through our doors, the ears of Jesus listening with compassion to their hurts and fears and the tongue of Jesus reminding our family, neighbors and patients that we need to forgive one another and love each other as sisters and brothers in Christ.