One thing that I have always noticed was the farther removed I was from my dental cleaning the more people offered me a mint!

 Good morning,

I pray the day finds you well.

Well, I am going to broach a subject with you that usually makes people a bit squeamish. I want to have a conversation about spiritual cleanliness. 

I have always been an advocate for dental hygiene! I have regular dental visits for cleanings and if I need any work done I do not put it off, but get that done right away. I have always had good teeth, I am lucky that way. I am a regular flosser, and I brush my teeth as my dentist recommends, I even have a water-pick in the shower. I like to stand in the shower and water-pick my gums. I realize as I am telling you this that you may not want to know all this about me, but I am transparent about my life and quite possibly a bit of an over-sharer. 

One thing that I have always noticed was the farther removed I was from my dental cleaning the more people offered me a mint! A wise man once told me, "If someone offers you a mint, take it!" 

When I got cancer, and went through chemo, I wasn't able to go to the dentist as planned for my regular cleanings. It didn't help that COVID was going on and I had no immune system. Once my chemo was done and I had waited the appropriate amount of time, and got the ok from my Oncologist,  I scheduled a badly needed cleaning! 

I got to the dentist, sat in the chair ready for a normal appointment when the unthinkable happened. My Dentist said, "Roger, your chemo treatment has given you periodontal disease!  I said, "How did that happen?" he explained how the chemo kills all the fast growing healing cells in your body and your gums are fast growing cells; along with the fact that it messes up the salivary glands. All of which caused my problem.

Needless to say (another weird statement, because if it is needless to say, why am I saying it? English is weird) I have been working diligently to get my gums back and they are responding, but it isn't easy. 

So I have noticed that since my cancer and chemo I have been offered mints more often (Things that make me go Hmmm...)

As I was sitting in the dentist chair, I started having a conversation with God, or more aptly, He was having a conversation with me. I was talking about my oral health and He was talking about my spiritual health. He said, "Spiritual health is not unlike oral health. If you don't pay attention to it. If you don't take care of it. you spiritual health will diminish. You will become spiritually stinky. 

While people may offer you a mint for your breath, they typically don't offer you a mint for stinky spirituality. They just don't hang around you as much, or talk to you about things that matter. 

As a spiritual director I often tell people that spiritual formation is more like a river and less like a lake.

I explain to them that a person is always in movement in their formation, they are never stationary.  

One is either moving toward God or away from God. It is a constant journey, one in which you never arrive this side of eternity. 

When you are actively taking care of your spiritual health you are moving toward God and you have fresh spirituality. When you neglect your relationship with God you begin to stink. 

Just something I noticed. 

So the question I have is, "How are you taking care of your spiritual health?"

Something to ponder, at least for me.

Blessings,

Roger