Sometimes my patients can try my patience.

Often a patient comes to see me only when they are very sick. They can’t figure out what is wrong, and how to get healthy again. So I do my best to diagnose the problem, but also try to look further, to see what may be behind the problem that affected their health in the first place.  And then I give my best advice on how to treat the illness. But I also try to say a few words about preventive maintenance. I encourage them to make some changes to improve their overall health, so they are less likely to get sick. To address the bigger issues that affect their ability to fight infection like diabetes, inactivity, overworking, extra weight, poor diet, lack of prevention.

Usually a patient will follow my recommendations for their acute illness, such as take the prescription, drink fluids, rest. But once he feels better, he sets aside the more serious issues. Often, I won’t see him in my office until the next illness strikes.

Preventive Maintenance for My Soul

If I am honest with myself, I can do the same thing, not so much with my physical health as with my spiritual health. I reach out to God with “fire alarm prayers,” but when things settle down ignore the preventive maintenance for my soul, those things that I do that keep my life more on an even keel.

It is so easy to chug along in life and neglect the soul-healing habits of my inner life that sustain my outer life. Reading God’s word, spending quality time with Him listening as well as talking, connecting with other believers—these things are preventive maintenance for my soul.

What habits of preventive maintenance for your soul have you developed? Are there any that have fallen by the wayside? What will you do to get back on track?