Wholesome Living

I have been thinking a lot lately about the word "wholesome". I would like to share my thoughts with you. So I began to think how much life has changed in the last few years. These changes mostly took place because of rapidly changing technology and better internet, but also because of a faster-paced lifestyle, and therefore the availability of things like fast food and instant meals. I realized that these changes were not all good ones. As a result, if we are not careful our lives can actually be very superficial and not meaningful or wholesome at all. I don't know about you, but as far as it is in my power to do so, I would like to live a wholesome life...

So what in my opinion is unwholesome? I think it's unwholesome that we are often so busy "being busy" that we have very little quiet time to sit and read God's Word, to pray, and to just reflect for a few moments on how we are feeling. I also think it is unwholesome when our schedules are so tight that we have little time to spend with our spouse / children / parents / siblings and therefore to build strong relationships. It's also unwholesome when we work so many hours that our health suffers and we cannot enjoy the things we have worked so hard for. I think it's unwholesome when we religiously scroll through all our social media feeds every day and know lots of little details about people but rarely have time to sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk with any of those people. Recently I have seen families on outings, each member of the family holding his gadget and using it to "communicate" with other people in other places, while ignoring their beloved family members that they went on the outing with. In my opinion, that's very unwholesome.

In my musings, I wondered if the Bible has anything to say about wholesome living. I was reminded of Philippians 4:8 where it says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things." So I went on a "quest" to find more lovely and admirable things for me and my family to be busy with. First of all, I decided it would be right for me to intentionally schedule in more time for personal Bible reading and prayer. In this way I can be reminded each and every day to keep the right focus in my life and be reminded of the great joy we have as followers of Jesus. I also decided that I needed more sleep so that I would be able to do more praiseworthy things -- as opposed to being grumpy or ill-tempered towards my family due to a lack of sleep. I and my husband also announced at a "family meeting" that the kids would have limits on the amount of time they spend on their screens. (Mind you, the kids did not think that that was an admirable thing to do, but some day we hope they will see eye to eye with us on this.) I also often listen to lovely Christian music and even some good classical music while doing housework. I even bought a bread-maker and now bake good, homemade bread for my family. I drink at least eight cups of water per day now, and encourage my family to do the same. We also regularly swim, play soccer, and hike in nature as a family in order to stay active, be healthy, and spend quality time together. 

In no way am I promoting these changes that we made in our family as a pattern or recipe for wholesome living. Everyone's life is different. Many of these things you may already be doing, while others might be impossible to implement in your life at this time. I also am not sharing these things with you in order to make you feel guilty. Baking your own bread, for example, might not be a possibility right now for you and you should not feel guilty about that. (I couldn't imagine baking my own bread every day when my kids were little or even while I was teaching at school.) But I have shared my ideas as motivation only, to perhaps inspire you to think of your own ideas. Perhaps there is an area of your life that could be more wholesome. Perhaps there are talents that God has given you that you have never developed or a hobby that you have been interested to pursue but never thought you had time for. Those things might actually enrich your life in a way that you had not thought possible before. That's how come I started blogging. I always liked writing but never seemed to have the time for it. I feel that my life is more wholesome now that I have intentionally scheduled in a little time each week to write a blog such as this one. And hopefully your life will also be a little more enriched by reading them.    

I have shared with you some of my thoughts about wholesome living. Perhaps you could share your own ideas on this topic. I would love to read them! Please type in your thoughts on what wholesome living means to you, in the comments section below.