Generally speaking, our bodies need food, water, and sleep everyday. Filling up today doesn’t keep us from needing these things again tomorrow. And the same is true with the needs of our soul. Even here we need our daily bread of truth, goodness, and beauty.
It’s easy to forget the truth of who we are in the midst of life’s pressures, demands, and disappointments. And when we forget our inner strength and worth we settle into playing parts that rob us of our true dignity. Craving affirmation is not wanting someone to simply stroke our egos. It’s our souls crying out for someone to remind us of the truth of who we are. And we need this truth daily.
We also need regular doses of goodness – for someone to do something kind for us just because. For example, an encouraging text message, phone call, or special treat has the power to feed the soul. When our life consists of only doing good and not also receiving good we’re setting ourselves up for burnout. It’s not weak to desire these regular acts of kindness. Our parched soul needs daily helpings in order to thrive.
And the same is true with beauty. The soul never has enough and each day we need fresh displays of art and nature, smiling faces and music to nourish our inner world. Life becomes depressing and sad without the overflow of beauty. We’re not being immature in our needs. It’s simply how our souls have been designed – to regularly feast on beauty in all its many forms.
There’s no need to beat ourselves up for desiring our daily bread of truth, goodness and beauty – but rather to pray for them and seek them out each day.
Feed your body and soul its daily bread.
Photo by Kate Remmer on Unsplash
