Spiritual Batteries

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This morning, I went out to my car to head down the mountain to meet some clergy

colleagues for coffee, and my car wouldn’t start. The battery was completely dead. No

ding sound. No dashboard lights. Nothing.

I had suspected this day was coming. My car has been starting more and more

sluggishly over the past few weeks, but I hadn’t done anything about it. I mean, why do

today what you can put off until tomorrow, right?

So I borrowed Wesley’s car and made it to my coffee meeting. On the way back, I

stopped by the auto parts store and bought a new battery. I didn’t have enough cash, so

I had to “charge” it. I hope to install it shortly, and I hope it’s an overall “positive”

experience.

It did get me thinking about our spiritual lives. Sometimes our spiritual batteries can be a

little sluggish. And sometimes, especially if we let it go on for too long, our batteries can

become totally drained, depleted, dead. No energy. No interest. Nothing.

When that happens, it’s good for us to know: What recharges your spiritual battery?

What gives you that spiritual jump start that renews and reenergizes you?

For me, it can be worship, and particularly upbeat music that gets my toes tapping and

my hands clapping. As an introvert, it can also be some good solo time, like a walk in

the woods to soak in the beauty of God’s creation, or some time spent in the silence

and stillness of prayer. But it can also be going around and making some visits to some

members of our church family, listening to them share from the stories of their lives.

It's vital for us to keep our spiritual batteries charged, and not to ignore the signs and

symptoms that we are running low, but to engage in those spiritual practices that refresh

and reinvigorate our spirits. That’s how we can best live the kind of life that Paul says

really matters, a life of “faith working through (energoumene, energized by, fully charged

with) love” (Galatians 5:6).