Burnout in the mind

I was driving back to school from home last weekend and I was thinking about how much concentration it takes to stay focused on academics. How we put so much time into our mental state that we neglect the physical and spiritual. I'm using the word "mental" in the sense of knowledge and attaining it. Not mental issues.

We focus on education and rightly so, however we stress ourselves with getting the grades and being on the deans list every semester (a little exaggerative..I know), you understand. We get to a point where we no longer care about what we eat, or our time with God. We figure that after our Christian University education we can start our lives listening to God instead of actually learning about him and his ministry. But the truth is, both must coincide. Constantly striving to know more about Him while giving Him the time to talk to you, speak to your heart.

God gave us these bodies, for the moment we are stuck here in these bodies. So while we are in these bodies, learning about God and his plan for our lives and for the salvation of those who have not heard, we need to take care of them. We need to stay healthy so that the rest of our selves can excel. "Selves" meaning the spiritual and mental states, without the physical staying active and energetic, the mind and spirit will suffer. Take time out to stretch your body, even possibly to a limit, eat good stuff, drink water for heaven sake (some of you would say I would be the last to give that advice, but I do love water).

Our spiritual state drives us. God made it as pliable and mold-able as we want to keep it. Staying so super focused on those 4.0 GPAs makes us forget about the God we serve and the wonderful peace we have when we allow the molding to ensue. The better we allow time to be with God, the better our spiritual state will be. It's science! Oh no...not science. It's faith! Yeah there we go.

These three "aspects" of life seem to always flow in what I view them as different tracks, when what they should be is a beautiful swirling intertwining mass of harmonious goodness. What I guess I am alluding to is compartmentalizing life. The biggest parts of us, mentally, physically, and spiritually, seem to somehow find their own little corners and hide away. But Christ should be the center of them all. That's sometimes (sometimes lots of times) hard for us. It's hard for me, and I know I'm not the only one.

Am I downgrading academics? No, I am simply pointing out that, especially Americans, tend to focus on their schooling and how far up the chain they can go and before long all that training does not mean fulfillment. We look back after all that and think that we didn't give enough time to what mattered over everything; time with the Father.

I know from experience when I have felt an insane emptiness I know it's been to long, I haven't visited in a while. Theres a lot of concentration that goes into it all. I want the beautiful swirling intertwining mass of harmonious goodness, and all of it starts with Christ, it ends with him too.

I'll even take it with the punches.

All to God