Ken Gire - Windows of the Soul

Special thanks to Ann Spangler
Senior Acquisitions Editor at Zondervan
for suggesting this project,
thinking enough of me to believe
I might have something to say
on a topic as important as this

IT HARDLY SEEMS POSSIBLE TO TALK ABOUT THE SOUL WITHOUT IN some way talking about God. Something like a tour guide taking you through St. Peters Cathedral, pointing out the intricate design of the architecture, the polished craftsmanship of the woodwork, and the painstaking artistry of the stained glass, all the while never mentioning why the cathedral was built in the first place.

It is, I suppose, possible to speak of the soul without speaking of God, just as it is possible to tour a cathedral without stopping to worship. Most of us, though, have taken that tour. And for most of us, its not enough.

The pursuit of self is what most of us have been doing for much of our lives, even our spiritual lives. But the self is a cul-de-sac, and eventually we end up where we started. Footsore and just as frustrated, just as unfulfilled. Feeling were a failure, or worse, a fraud.

The pursuit of soul, if soul is all were pursuing, is not much different. Its a longer walk down a nicer street, but the street is still a cul-de-sac, and in the end, regardless how invigorating the walk, it doesnt lead beyond the neighborhood of who we are.

Most of us, though, have grown a little tired of the neighborhood and all the back-and-forth trips weve taken there. We long for something more than a routine walk around the religious block.

We long for the companionship of God.

We long for the assurance that we are not taking this journey alone. That He is walking with us and talking with us and intimately involved in our lives.

We have all had moments when weve experienced something of that intimacy. Moments we cant quite explain, yet cant explain away. Moments when God has touched our lives like a soft hand of morning sun reaching through our bedroom window, brushing over our eyes, and waking us to something eternal.

At some of these windows, what we see offers simply a moment of insight, making us slower to judge and quicker to show understanding. At a few of them, though, what we see offers a word spoken to the very depths of who we are. It may be a word to rouse us from sleep and ready us for our lifes journey. It may be a word to warn us of a precipice or guide us to a place of rest. It may be a word telling us who we are and why we are here and what is required of us at this particular juncture of our journey.

Or, in a startling sundrenched moment of grace, it may be a word telling us something we have longed all of our lives to heara word from Goda word so precious it would be worth the most arduous of climbs to hear the least audible of its echoes.

Windows of the soul is where we hear those words.

And where the journey begins.