Emptiness. Longing for inspiration. Needing deep change. Feeling lost. These are a few of the symptoms that arise when our spiritual life is sending out hunger pangs.
We all suffer from spiritual malnutrition at times. Unfortunately, we often wait until a crisis hits before we do anything about it.
If we open up to our spiritual resources only after the crisis hits, it’s the equivalent of eating only after we are stumbling and starving. Just as we need daily food to nourish our bodies, we need regular spiritual food to nourish our souls.
Fortunately, life has a built-in meal-time reminder system: Every difficult experience, every painful emotion, is an invitation to nourish ourselves. Each unfulfilling moment is a dinner bell that wakes us from our spiritual malaise, and reminds us it’s time to rejoin life’s great fulfilling feast.
And when we get these reminders, it’s not like we need to drop to our knees and do a hundred Hail Mary’s. We don’t need to start meditating at the same time each day for 10 minutes, or recalibrate all our dysfunctional beliefs. The next step after a bell-reminder can be much simpler.
Just say, “HELP!” Yes, help. When pain strikes, when the dinner-bell rings, ask for help.
“HELP!” is a prayer that opens us up to Divine connection.
“HELP!” is a prayer that acknowledges there is a Higher Power that hears us, that speaks into our open hearts. As one of my teachers said, “I don’t care what you call it, as long as you call on it.”
“HELP!” starts a chain reaction that life-changing and fulfilling.
“HELP!” reaches out for nourishment and nurturance and guidance by the Spirit.
Connection, fulfillment, nourishment, nurture, guidance: This is what we’ve hungered for all along. This is the banquet we’re invited to.