IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

“It is well, it is well with my soul,” goes the refrain of a familiar old hymn. It was written in 1873 by Horatio Spafford following a series of tragedies which included losing four daughters in a ship collision at sea. Only their mother survived, telegraphing Horatio in Chicago, “Saved alone.” He immediately sailed to Europe to meet her, and on their return trip, after passing over the site of the sinking, he wrote the words for which in 1876 Philip Bliss composed the hymn tune, naming it Ville du Havre, after the lost ship.

“I am well,” is a similar phrase, a key response of Wayne Dyer, a current author and popular TV speaker, to the question, “How are you?” That question is often answered with phrases like, “Not too good,” or “I’m OK,” or “I didn’t sleep a wink last night,” – all referring to our bodily aches and infirmities. But Wayne Dyer makes the point that my body is not “me.” In fact, my body is not the same body that it was last week or last year. For my body is constantly changing, replacing cells, renewing itself. But there is one thing that is unchanging from the time I was born. And that is what I know as ME. There is a constancy in the “me” that I have known all my life. There is a sense of self that grows in awareness and feelings through the years, to a degree that is uniquely human, and there is something about it that is always “me.” The traditional word for that is “soul.” It is that spark of God within me. Sometimes we can be acutely aware of it. At other times that sense may become distant. But that is what I understand Wayne Dyer to mean when he says, “I am well!” The body may have its aches and pains – in fact it may be seriously ill or injured – but the “I” that is “me” is fine – is well.

Meister Eckert, a 10th Century mystic described it simply, “My me is God!” Yes! That is my affirmation. That is the affirmation of my Christian faith. The God that Jesus worshiped was recognized as being so integral to the human Jesus that it could only be described by others as God being “in” Jesus. And those early disciples soon experienced that same presence of God within themselves , describing it as Jesus being still alive to them! And we still experience that same presence within us if we let it and accept it and not shut it out. I can’t explain it. I don’t try. Words are inadequate to describe the ineffable, the unexplainable.

So yes, I AM WELL! I am a part of the amazing process of creation and life that is everywhere. I am grateful for the privilege of being me. I see God in the creativity that is all around me – in the beauty of nature, in the complexity of the universe, and in the amazing realization that the universe is even comprehensible. I see God in the creativity that is in music and art that speaks to me in so many ways. And I see God especially in my relationships to everyone around me. For it is in the love that is in those relationships that I glimpse what it is to become more fully human. And it becomes very specific when I consider those closest to me: my wife, my children, and all my extended family and close friends. This is how I know and experience God.

It is well with my soul!

Loren Bullock
May 27, 2012