Soul Helium This Instant!

Soul Helium

Behold: a freshly-filled helium balloon. It's a mylar beauty. Maybe it's the shape of a sun or a birthday cake. Perhaps it's a big ol' yellow smiley face. Whatever it is, wherever it goes, a balloon elicits a smile. It's just what they do. Maybe that's because they lift our heads, and therefore our spirits, UP.

Helium has something going for it that nothing else does—its ability to defy gravity. Gravity pulls EVERYTHING down. No one is exempt from it. We are at its mercy 24/7. Maybe that's why helium is so appealing. It floats. Rises. Soars. It actually pulls UPward.

Day in and day out, my mind is basically as grounded as my body. It operates on a general mode of functioning (optimists call it pessimism; pessimists call it realism) that is comparable to the essential duty of gravity: to pull downward.

Oh, but the lift my entire mind, body, heart, and soul experience when I get a little helium in me—a little lift from the Holy Spirit. It's powerful stuff. Coming in a number of different forms (catching a peek of a glorious sunset, a heart-to-heart with a lifelong friend, laughing so hard I consider investing in Depends), there's no way these cherished moments are "random" events that I'm "lucky" to have.

Rather, they are priceless gifts from my Father. He knows that I am prone to dullness from the monotony of routine. He knows that without Him, I am stuck in the downward pull of my thoughts. He knows just when I need a little Soul Helium. And I never have to do anything drastic to find it. Rather, in the midst of the everyday, in the midst of the hum-drum, He finds ways to surprise me. How fun it is, at the end of every day, to count the helium-filled balloons in the bouquet He has given me.

Where do you turn when your spirit needs a lift? When your soul is flatlined, do you pray for a huge miracle? Do you try to make a dramatic escape? What if God wanted to give you His Soul Helium in the form of the simple things, the everyday things? Would you recognize them for what they are...and enjoy the lift?

"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."
Psalm 42:5-6

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace (soul helium) as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Romans 15:13 (interpretation Jodi's)