Give Your Soul Away

At the Wednesday morning service of the MOSA conference, Ann Peart included a lovely reading which really spoke to my condition: Thirty Six by Linda M. Underwood:

All this talk of saving souls.

Souls weren't made to save,

like Sunday clothes that

give out at the seams.

They're made for wear; they

come with lifetime guarantees.

Don't save your soul.

Pour it out like rain on

cracked, parched earth.

Give your soul away, or

pass it like a candle flame.

Sing it out, or

laugh it up the wind.

Souls were made for hearing

breaking hearts, for puzzling dreams,

remembering August flowers,

forgetting hurts.

These men who talk of saving souls!

They have the look of bullies

who blow out candles before

you sing happy birthday,

and want the world to be

in alphabetical order.

I will spend my soul,

playing it out like sticky string

into the world,

so I can catch every

last thing I touch.

Some beautiful ideas here - souls being "made for wear"; coming with "lifetime guarantees". Yes, we should give our souls away, pouring them out "like rain on cracked, parched earth", playing them out "like sticky string into the world". If we only do this, then we can connect with the Divine, and with each other, and with the world. I believe that that is why God gave them to us.