On Sunday, I shared a little about our liturgical theme for this year, "Wholesome." What does the word mean to you? And in this world we're living in, with entertainment and news being literally pushed to us, what would it look like in your life to prioritize what you deem to be wholesome?
For a definition, I like what it meant to those who used it in the 1200s: what is of benefit to the soul. I think this is a good little test to whether I consider something to be wholesome for me or not.
Not that everything must be wholesome! I like some factory-made, neon-colored sour candy once in a while, and somedays, I really enjoy a little cynical, snarky humor. I am one who bristles against the voices who try to try to police our (literal or figurative) food. But I will also acknowledge the wisdom of what Mama used to say: "Don't fill up on that, or you won't have room for dinner." If I consume nothing but the shallow, the cynical, the empty calories of meaningless media, I will have no room for the nourishing items that will feed my soul and spirit.
I briefly mentioned in the sermon Louisa May Alcott. She was influenced and mentored not only by her father, Bronson Alcott, and mother, "Marmee," but also by her uncle, the abolitionist and Unitarian Samuel May, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. "Wholesome" for a whole ethos for her.
In one of her books, Eight Cousins, a mother -- Aunt Jessie -- talks to her young sons, who are big fans of popular, sensationalistic novels, what we today would call pulp fiction. She tells them, "The writers of these popular stories intend to do good, I have no doubt, but it seems to me they fail because their motto is, 'Be smart, and you will be rich,' instead of 'Be honest, and you will be happy.'"
I must confess, I often look around at our present world with dismay. Aunt Jessie's words seem so out-of-step with our times. Happy, honest? Our world tells us that to be rich is the ultimate goal. Corruption seems to be an accepted practice, with no shame (or consequences, if you're rich enough) attached.
So I am thinking very hard about what is the nourishment my soul needs right now. What are the things I can have less of, in order to have more room (or time, or energy, or bandwidth) for the good stuff? And what exactly is "the good stuff" and where do I find it?
After all, as Mama also said: You are what you eat.
