“Love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind {…} Jesus replied, ‘Do this and you will live’ ” Luke 10:27-28

The soul is locked behind the flesh. Unlock it.

Soul food. Soul mate. Soul searching. All of these are fun things to think about, right?

These phrases have become part of our culture because they reveal parts of ourself that we harbor in our innermost depths.

Soul food connects with our inner child and our sense of family – foods that bring comfort to us because it satisfies our cravings for nourishment (rich, nourishment).

A soul mate is someone who we believe compliments ourselves – a person who you could spend the rest of your life with and know that he or she will honor the beautiful person you were created to be.

And soul searching … who would argue that the journey of understanding who you are isn’t something worthy of our time and effort?

The soul is something that can’t be fully described in words, yet we know that our souls define the greater purpose of why we were made, why we have this gift of life, why we feel a higher calling and desire to be connected to something more.

When the angel told Mary that she would give birth to the Son of the Most High, she responded by saying “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Luke 1:38 Immediately after, Mary hurried to Elizabeth who proclaimed, “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.” (35) In response, Mary sang, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” (48)

God speaks to us and commands the direction of our lives. If we truly believe and trust that He is good, we give our lives to Him, knowing that He will guide us exactly where we need to be. We begin to realize that God has called our souls to go and do things that will bring Him glory – amazing, incredible things that touch our very center in ways that reveal our purpose, the story He gave to each of us.

If we, like Mary, let our souls glorify the Lord, we stand with our arms raised, saying, “My life is not my own, but yours! You created me, you have great plans for me and you care about me as a father who so deeply cares for his child.”

The soul goes beyond the humanness. French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said, “We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

We need to look past our flesh and see the intricate wonders of the soul – our souls that cry out to our Father in Heaven.