I was reminded once again this past week of the importance of making sure that I have a healthy soul, being vitally certain I am guarding my heart. Jesus said your soul is worth more than the world. This is the true key to life, binding our hearts, minds, and spirits together.
When our souls are healthy, we are able to fight off depression, hopelessness, relationship struggles, and lack of fulfillment. Dallas Willard said, “If your soul is healthy, no external circumstance can destroy your life. If your soul is unhealthy, no external circumstance can redeem your life.”
One wise reflection on life says that 85% of life is how we respond to the less-than-ideal events that come to us. I was speaking to a group of young men and shared this thought from Jack Canfield that I came across many years ago: E + R = O (Event + Response = Outcome)
Here is the idea: EVENTS are always happening. I always choose how I RESPOND. My response always creates the OUTCOME.
The E + R = O mindset is built on three simple and direct understandings:
- I don’t control events
- I do control my response
- I create outcomes, but I don’t control them
The word “control” here is imperative. People easily confuse it with influence or contribution, but to control something means to have command over it. So, since I always get to choose my response, I must ask myself when I am experiencing an event, “What outcome do I want to create?” The answer to this question will directly impact what my response should be. I must display discipline to get my mind right in order that I can get my response right.
Proverbs 4:23 wisely reminds us, “Above all else guard your heart for out of it flows all the issues of life.” This is what we must keep front and center. A healthy soul is especially important to responding and living well.
Truthfully, this takes my breath away. We are living in a day where people and events are less than ideal, and we all need to be reminded that our Response is creating an Event for someone, and that Event will create an Outcome with which we all will have to live.
“Your soul is both the most fragile and most resilient thing about you; a healthy soul is what holds you together when your world falls apart.” – John Ortberg
You MUST focus on developing and keeping a healthy soul. We never know the events that will happen. Something may affect your spouse, your kids, your children, your parents, your friend, your boss, your employee. As Jesus said so wisely, we never know what will happen in just one day. We can’t control that.
What really matters is what we can control. I can control me. And what matters most is not the accomplishments I achieve – what matters is the person I become, the health of my soul.