Five Finger Recovery: Taking Care of Yourself Part 1

May 20, 2014: Five Finger Recovery: Taking Care of Yourself Part 1 Please "Share" this new Precious Prodigal Post: http://bit.ly/RS4kl0

Song of Sol 1:6b "...they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept."

The woman in Song of Solomon said her siblings made her “keeper of their vineyards.” Not a problem, right? However, she goes on to say, “mine own vineyard have I not kept.” That’s where it begins to be a problem. And isn’t this the perfect picture of us? There we are working our little fingers off weeding, fertilizing and watering everyone else’s vineyard while our own vineyards are neglected. We’re so busy taking care of everyone else that we don’t take care of ourselves.

We can determine whether we’re taking care of ourselves by asking a few simple questions, starting with our prodigal. Am I sleeping at night or am I staying up waiting for my prodigal to get home? How much time do I spend worrying about where he is and what he’s doing? Have I missed work or leisure activities because I’m “helping” him straighten out the latest mess he’s made?

What about my own daily routine? Am I eating nutritious, enjoyable meals or is my stomach tied in knots so I can’t eat at all? Do I go places or do things I enjoy, or am I sitting at home in case the phone rings? Do I spend time with family or friends, finding pleasure just in being with them? Do I talk with people about a variety of things, or do my prodigal and his behavior or my feelings about them dominate every conversation?

Depending on your answers to these questions, you don’t need me or anyone else to tell you whether you’re taking care of yourself. You already know. How’s your vineyard looking?

Taking care of yourself is probably entirely new to you. After all, we’re the responsible ones, the ones who have to “take care” of everything and everybody. And we’re so used to doing for people what they should reasonably be doing for themselves that we haven’t even thought about how to take care of ourselves. So how are we supposed to do that?

Taking care of ourselves includes some basic things. It means eating regular meals, getting enough sleep, and making and keeping routine doctor appointments. But it means more than that. Healthy people who take care of themselves have a variety of interests. They have friends they enjoy spending time with, and they do things they enjoy. They sometimes laugh and even play. Taking care of yourself means you’ll do some of those things.

I’m not saying you should stop demonstrating a servant’s heart. I am saying you need to take care of yourself in order to have the reserves to take care of someone else. You can’t dip water out of an empty well or drive your car very far on an empty gas tank.

How can you expect to meet the needs of others if you don’t take care of yourself? If we don’t take care of our own basic needs, we can’t blame the Lord when we’re discouraged in the work He has given us to do and weary in the path He has given us to walk. If our vineyard is overgrown and full of weeds, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Challenge for Today: Can you, just for today, choose one or two things you can do to start taking care of yourself?