An Ancient Commandment for Flourishing

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit priest, paleontologist, scientist

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  Mark 12:30 (NIV)

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8

A guest pastor, our district superintendent, once came to our little church and used the scripture above.  It scared the living daylights out of several people who were there. 

One said to me later, “There is no way I can love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. First, I’m not even sure who I think God is... if you want to know the truth. Second, I’m struggling to survive. That scripture, even the thought of living a life like that, totally freaks me out and bogs my energy and spirit down.  How could I ever do all that? Why would I want to?”

I understood what she meant.  It sounded like a very big job. Not much fun either. But recently, I’ve been thinking about how this scripture is an invitation to living the good life in ways we may not have considered.

This commandment, spoken by Jesus and rooted in Jewish tradition, is more than a rule. It’s a spiritual design for wholeness—a way to bring every part of ourselves into alignment with big Love and flourish. Stick with me here even if you aren’t religious.

Loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength doesn’t just lead to spiritual growth. It’s a blueprint for well-being. It invites us into a life of emotional resilience, mental clarity, spiritual depth, and active compassion. It’s a call to become fully alive.

To love God with your heart is to center your emotional life in love. It means living from compassion, not fear; from gratitude, not resentment for one thing.

Psychological research shows that people who cultivate emotional awareness and thankfulness experience lower stress, deeper relationships, and more joy. Loving God with your heart invites emotional integration. It takes us out of our stress response and activates our relaxation response.

The soul is our deepest self—the sacred core of who we are. To love God with your soul is to live from that deep place where your spirit meets God’s Spirit – or for some The Great Mystery. (Again, hang in here those of you who don’t yet resonate with what I’m saying.)

This love isn’t about religious performance—it’s about presence. Practices like silence, meditation, breath prayer, or simply being in nature can help you reconnect with your soul.

The mind is a sacred space. To love God with your mind means to think, question, learn, and reflect—all in the service of truth and love and wisdom.

Far from being anti-intellectual, a healthy person, including a religious person, welcomes curiosity. Studies show that people who engage in meaning-making and intellectual exploration are more resilient and less prone to despair. Loving God with your mind might mean listening deeply to others and wrestling with difficult big questions. Discerning what is right, wrong, valuable for living a good life.

Strength is your capacity to show up in the world with love. It’s about what you do with your time, your energy, your body, your resources.

Acts of service, justice, and compassion don’t just help others—they help you thrive. And that’s beautiful. Neuroscience tells us that generosity releases chemicals that boost happiness and health.

To love God with your strength is to contribute to a better world, to have hands and feet that help others.

To sum it up, when you “love God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength,” you become a whole person. You’re no longer fragmented—your feelings, thoughts, actions, and spirit are all flowing from and with the same source: love.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies on human happiness, found that the single greatest predictor of well-being is meaningful relationships. Loving God opens the door to deeper relationships—with yourself, with others, and with Life – the great cosmos, the universe.

Let’s suppose, you are willing to experiment and try this ancient wisdom out.  Here are my suggestions for a whole-heart, whole-spirit, whole-mind, whole strength practice.

• Heart: Start your day with a gratitude prayer for three things. These need to be specific.  Don’t say the usual “family and friends and good health.”  Think of something specific. 

  
  

This morning my eyes caught some copper cups given to us by relatives (Thank you, Matt and Karen).  They shined with elegance and beauty in the early morning sun. And I remembered the smiles and good feelings associated with these relatives as well as their acts of generosity. What if loving God with all your heart is intentionally noticing and holding on to the good in our lives?

If you want to bring your body into action, you might even put your hands over your heart to get in touch with this aspect of yourself. Of course, many recommend writing down your grateful thoughts in a gratitude journal.  That works for some.

I like the book I’ve previously written about Sleeping With Bread: Holding on to What Gives You Life. It gently guides us into noticing what both buoys us up and bogs us down and reminds us to hold on to what gives us life.

• Soul: Spend five minutes or so in silence, listen. Be present. (Some may have a particular way they pray or meditate.) You can do this inside your house or outside in nature. If you have, like at least one person has told me, not a spiritual bone in your body, skip this or simply be still for a few minutes. We are so busy checking off our to-do list (not a bad thing in its place), we can miss out on the whole adventure of living.

  
  

OR experiment with just supposing that there could be Supreme Intelligence at work in the universe.  Enjoy the time. Breathe deeply and slowly. Then ask, “How can I align myself with your purposes of love, joy, and goodness?” Listen…listen…listen to the still, small voice as the Quakers say. What if loving God with all our soul is being fully present, showing up, and connecting with the source and the force for good?

If you want to get your body engaged, I sometimes do this outside and extend my arms out straight to my sides. Close my eyes.  I listen to the sounds around me – the birds, I feel the sun or breeze or light drizzle, I wiggle my toes and feel the ground.  I imagine myself joining with all those people who are wanting to make a good world – as well as a cosmic force for love and goodness. (Yes, this may get my neighbors' attention.)

• Mind: Read or reflect on one passage or idea that challenges and uplifts you. Now I am a book girl.  I have tons of books that allow me to grapple and struggle with conflicting ideas.  Move my grey matter around into new configurations. Many of my books also uplift. These are some of my best times. What if loving God with all our minds is working hard to figure out what is true, what is right, what is wrong, seeking wisdom?

  
  

I have friends, however, who don’t like to read.  They watch TED talks or listen to audio books. Or go to lectures, listen to people on youtube.

• Strength: Think back to any nudge you got in your “soul time.” Then do one act of love today—make a call, lend a hand – help somehow. 

  
  

Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist, has done research with Jane Dutton.  They have found that people are buoyed by remembering what kindness they did, what they contributed to the world. 

We can’t do everything that needs to be done, but we can always do something. (I get my body into this by extending my cupped hands – as if in an offering, and say in my head, “I can’t do everything, but I can do something; this is what I can do today.”)

Grant and Dutton recommend not only doing acts of kindness but noting them just as you might in a gratitude journal – creating a contribution journal. At night when I’m wondering if my life counted for anything, if I can recall one little specific thing (like check in on someone) I did on another’s behalf, I sleep better. What if loving God with all our strength is persevering, being fully committed - being the arms and legs of God in bringing about goodness, joy, love, peace, hope in the world?

Teilhard de Chardin said it best:

“Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them.”

To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is not a way to get all bogged down, but rather it’s a way to live in harmony with what some call your True Self (the best version of you). It is the way to a life that is not just good—but whole, beautiful, enlivening, joyful and richly flourishing.

(Some may be wondering how much time this would take.  I take pleasure in doing these things, so I like savoring and taking plenty of time.  However, on some days, I do a quick 15-minute practice. That’s a drop in the bucket when we notice how we spend our time.  Think of cellphones and computers. And some days I do skip some parts or even the whole thing, and then I find myself in a slump, remind myself to do it tomorrow for a better day.)

How might we give the ancient wisdom a try by loving God with all our hearts (be grateful and also honest about what you are experiencing – your highs and lows), with all our souls (be still, listen, notice the nudge of the still, small voice), with all our minds (be wise, keep tackling the big questions), and with all our strength (do good, be kind, persevere) and journey together to The Good Life?

And for those who do not believe they have a spiritual bone in their bodies, consider how you might flourish by fully loving - having a regularly practice of being grateful (noticing and acknowledging the good), being fully present in the world, seeking wisdom, and helping others? You may want to read my article about the God that everyone knows... https://www.journeytothegoodlife.net/post/healthy-religion-experiencing-the-god-that-everyone-knows