Antioxidants for the Soul

Maybe our souls need antioxidants just like our bodies do.

I can hardly turn on the television anymore without hearing something about antioxidants and their importance to our health. Fruits, vegetables, tea and wine are all chock-full of magic cells to keep us healthy and new things get added to the list daily like coffee and beer. In the shower this morning, I noticed that my hair conditioner claims to contain antioxidants.

So I began to wonder, what are antioxidants exactly? I Googled it and turned up way more scientific jargon than I needed. The short version is that our bodies produce free radicals which are bad as well as antioxidants which are good. Unfortunately, we produce more bad than good especially as we age. Furthermore, things like pollution, the sun, smoking and x-rays also produce free radicals. That’s why we need to take in antioxidants to counter their effects. It’s like a constant cell war going on inside of our bodies.

So, I began thinking that if we need antioxidants for our bodies, surely we need them for our souls. Isn’t there a constant soul war going on too?  But what would they look like and where would they come from?

The free radicals are everywhere. They would be stress, anger, the media, societal pressures, the need to compete, the inability to ever be satisfied with what we have or where we are or who we are. I think I could come up with a never-ending list of free radicals for our souls.

But, what about the antioxidants? What should we do to soothe and strengthen our hearts and souls against the free radicals? First of all, we could take time to rest. We can never hear God if we don’t listen. In my experience, He’s not a yeller. We can pray as we seek peace and downtime. We can actively seek peace. We will never find it if we don’t rest and get quiet. Peace won’t chase us down and seek us. We have to seek it.

We can have a positive attitude to the people God has placed in our lives. They are here, just like we are here, for a reason. We can adopt an attitude of thankfulness. Whatever the circumstances, there is always something to be thankful for.

We can read the Bible. It’s full of examples of people who lived in trying times. It’s full of people who made mistakes. It’s full of people who turned away from God as well as those who turned towards Him. It’s full of forgiveness and grace. It’s a story that’s so much bigger than we are, yet we are part of it.

We can attend worship service. A good worship service is always medicine for weary souls.

We can get outside and enjoy this beautiful world that God has created for us. We can watch a sunrise or a sunset or a thunderstorm.

As it turns out, I was able to think of way more antioxidants for the soul than free radicals. Hmmmm, why does that not surprise me?

God is good!

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂