The sudden death of news caster, Tim Russert, raised awareness as to the dangers of arterial plaque!  Chunks of cholesterol building up in the arteries.  One breaks away; travels the arterial system and reaches the heart or lungs.  When that happens, life on this planet stops!  In a matter of minutes.

My early morning musings led me to think about other forms of “plaque” that plague (a play on words there) our lives.  Built up “junk” that clogs our mind and spirit.  While it may not take us physically from this planet; it can damage our lives and lifestyle in ways we may never recognize.

From the Christian spiritual viewpoint, I would consider this a buildup in the channel through which our Heavenly Papa communicates to us.  The more “junk” that clogs the pathway, the less likely we are to receive guidance and direction.  Guidance and direction that keeps the paths before us clear and unencumbered.

But what about folks who aren’t in that mindset?  Does the same affect them as well?

Yes, but without the recognition of the challenge or a language with which to articulate it.  When our goals are thwarted in some manner - you can bet we’re clogged somewhere internally.  The signals, nudges, urges & signs simply go unnoticed and often unheeded.

We are spiritual beings.  This is an argument (or heated discussion) I never engage in because very few folks dispute the fact; and those who do are simply foolish (in my humble opinion).

If we haven’t found it through traditional systems; we will look for and find it in non-traditional ways.  Ways that I won’t go into here.  We’ll latch onto things like the “Law of Attraction” which is nothing more than the underlying principles that those of us who adhere to the Christian tradition recognize in our Scripture!

The point of this conversation is to say we need to be as cognizant of our ‘spiritual arterial health’ as we are our physical.  And I’m not even talking about “after death” issues here.  I’m talking about keeping the spiritual pathways that are intrinsically built into us - open, clear and unencumbered by things such as anger, bitterness, jealousy.

As humans, we’ll get angry, we’ll experience bitterness if the anger festers over time and we’ll be jealous of someone or something.  It just comes with the territory. 

The ‘trick’ is to own it.  When we own it, we can dispose of it.  If we spend a chunk of time denying or trying to ignore; trust me, it will just get worse.  Part and parcel of our soul (or ‘heart’ - get the connection?) maturity is to accept our humanity as an accumulation of thoughts, emotions, feelings and behaviors that are sometimes great - and often not so great.

It’s the “not so great” that needs to be owned so that we can dispose thereof and keep the pathway or channel (whatever label one puts on it) free of ‘garbage’.

Garbage in the form of “soul plaque’.  Junk that we accumulate and allow to build up slowly and silently until it hits us “like a ton of bricks!”

So my encouragement for the day is to do a daily “soul check”.  Keep what seems okay; own what isn’t and dispose of it quickly.  Ask for guidance and direction on where and how to dump the junk.  Then the urges, nudges, signals and signs willl come through unencumbered and clear.

Have an awesome day with little or no ’soul plaque’ building up along the journey.

Linda, a fellow journeyer