Wednesday, November 15, 2017

                I have endured off-and-on again Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) since I was a kid. But I have never had a colonoscopy until yesterday. O joy! O bliss! Over the last few weeks my IBS has been persistently chronic and none of my usual tricks for coping have been working. So, it is time to get to the bottom of things (pun quite intended).

                The actual procedure was nothing, lasting about a half hour. But as anyone who has had the procedure will tell you the day before is no walk in the park. The intestinal cleansing and purge is a pain in the … well, you know where! Figuratively and literally! The 24 hour plus of fasting was no picnic either.

                I have survived but I am glad it will be another 5 years before I have to do that again (I hope, anyway).

                In Biblical times it is my understanding that the human bowels were figuratively the seat (OK; I’ll  stop punning) of any deep human emotions and feelings, whether positive or negative. “Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind?” (Job 38:26)  

                For example, we have the much distressed and beleaguered Job complain that “My inward parts are in turmoil and are never still.” (Job30: 27) Many of the great Psalms which express the poets’ distress, dismay, pain and anguish would seem to refer to the gut-wrenching experiences they were enduring. It is said of Jesus that at the funeral of his friend Lazarus, “he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.” (John 11:33)

                Even today, some may refer to having a “gut feeling” about some situation. A deep loss can be a “hard blow to the gut”. Somebody may ask, “What’s your gut telling you to do?” Some bold, daring action can be described as a “gutsy thing to do”.    

Not all deep inner emotional experiences are bad. Our deep feelings of love, mercy, compassion, joy, well-being may also come from the depths of our inner being.  For example, the old KJV translates Colossians 3:12: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering…”.  Although the idea of clothing ourselves with these qualities makes more sense, it is an interesting use of words.

                In fact, that translation drew me to Jesus’ words in Mark’s Gospel as a counterpoint. He has been addressing the superficiality of religious traditions, customs, and the easy, shallow hypocrisy of some of the religious leaders. He then speaks to the crowd which had been listening in, “Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." (Mark 7:15)

                Certainly, I know that my own IBS can be triggered by stress, anxiety, fear, worry and anger. Then my gut is in a mess and nothing good comes of it. But to fill up on the good things of life, love, happiness, generosity and the like leads to and produces a positive and beneficial effect all around me.  

               Deep inside each and every one of us is the full capacity for abundant living. “There is far more to your inner life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.” (Luke 12:23, The Message)

“I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3: 16 – 19).

Blessings for the week!

Dale