“…and you will find rest for your souls…” Mathew 11:29
I should have known the mall was in trouble…
Its walls enclose three-quarters-of-a-million square feet of space…
But only four tenants…
Three stores and one Movie Theater.
There is never anyone in the mall…
At least not anyone spending money.
All of those things should have been enough to tell me the mall was in trouble.
But I needed a sign.
Here it is…
I saw this sign on March 31.
Santa is still out feeding his reindeer?
On March 31?
He must have a pretty big herd.
There’s plenty of space to stable them in the mall.
Seven-hundred-fifty-thousand square feet of space…
Empty space. Desolate space.
No light shining into the walkways from busy stores…
No music playing over the sound system…
No food court offering the high-calorie, low-nutrition foods I love…
No kids laughing and running as their parents call after them…
No one hurrying from store to store…
The mall is empty.
And empty means trouble for a mall.
I guess it’s the same with my life…
My spiritual life…
When it’s empty, my soul is in trouble.
But just like the mall, it usually takes a sign to let me know I’m in soul-trouble…
For me, the biggest sign of an empty soul life is an overly full everyday life…
A life full of meetings…
And schedules…
And things I have to do right now!
A life so full that I lose patience…
Patience with stoplights…
And trains …
And grocery store lines…
And days that have only 24 hours.
Those are the signs my soul is in trouble…
Signs I have made the wrong decisions for my soul…
Signs I am relying on my own strength instead of His…
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
(Note: If you’re looking for a really good book on maintaining the health of your soul, I recommend the book Soul Keeping by John Ortberg. I’m currently reading the book, and it influenced the thoughts in this post. I do not receive any compensation for recommending the book.)
2 thoughts on “Signs My Soul’s In Trouble”
Very good, nice job parlaying your astute observations about the mall into spiritual observations! 🙂
Thanks so much for your kind words