Most would agree that we need to have mental, physical, and emotional health to live our lives to the fullest extent.
How do you build health physically? You work out and watch your diet right?
Some of us have health tendencies or weaknesses that come to us through our family line so we have to be aware of those tendencies. Perhaps this is a little extra weight, high blood pressure, or a fragile heart. Whatever it is- the wise thing to do is to pay attention to these things and to work to take care of a problem before it gets worse.
In the same manner how do you build spiritual healthy? Reading the Word, having quiet time with the Lord, prayer, fellowship with other believers, a heart of thanksgiving. Some of us may struggle with one area more than another and that takes more work. But in order to maintain spiritual growth it has to be a conscious effort of drawing close to the Lord and seeking fellowship with Him continually.
It takes work to build mental, physical and emotional health
Since it takes work to cultivate physical and spiritual health, don’t you think it also takes work to cultivate mental, physical and emotional health? Too often I find that people give excuses for why they worry, why they dwell in negative thought patterns, and struggle with healthy relationships. There is nothing wrong with admitting that we have trouble in these areas, the problem comes when we condone this and do nothing to change. (Which is true both physically and spiritually as well – if you are obese and continue eating the wrong things, the problem with only grow worse)
We are wired in such a way that when we are unhealthy in one area (whether it be emotionally, physically or spiritually) our whole body is affected. Take worry for instance – the physical consequences could be high blood pressure (check out Dr. Caroline Leaf’s book Who Switched Off my Brain for a more complete understanding of this) and the spiritual consequences are the inability to trust God, which keeps us from enjoying fellowship with Him.
God designed us each differently with unique temperaments and family backgrounds so some of us have a greater tendency towards emotional/mental problems. Dr. Frederick Diblasio explains that just like some are born with the learning disorder of dyslexia, others have emotional and interpersonal dyslexia. In both cases there is hope, but in both cases it takes work. ( Diblasio, Frederick (2016) Thoughts Toward Understanding the Neurobiology of Personality Disorders Christian Counseling Today Vol. 21 No. 3 p13)
What ever struggles we have the choice is ours whether we want to pursue spiritual, physical and emotional health to be the people God created us to be or we can choose to live the rest of our lives unhealthy.
Take a moment to think about where you want to be emotionally and mentally. Who in your life is healthy in these areas? In what ways do you want to grow stronger in this area?
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