A Split Soul

There’s a story of an explorer who traveled madly from one edge of South America to the other, getting up before dawn every day and pushing his crew until after sundown. One morning, as he was getting ready for yet another day of busy exploration, his native porters failed to appear. The explorer found them all seated under a tree, not doing anything in particular, but looking as if they were settled in for the better part of the day. He approached them impatiently and demanded an explanation. One of the porters then matter-of-factly replied, “We have traveled far and we have traveled fast. Now we must allow time for our souls to catch up with our bodies.”

I have traveled far and I have definitely traveled fast. Since I’ve had more time on my hands lately I’ve come to realize that my soul is split and I haven't allowed it time to catch up with my body: there’s a part of me that is still in Mississippi with my summer internship church, and there’s a part of me that longs to be at seminary in Georgia, and then there’s the part of me that is here in Florida. And the Florida part of me is currently the smallest.

And now I have all this time on my hands and I'm resenting that gift. But I must allow time for my soul to catch up with my body. Then maybe I can be more open to the gifts that are here, in this new place, in this good church, being offered by these warm people. But it’s going to take some time.