Mmmm…pie
Let’s talk about pie
Mmmm, perhaps with a little whipped cream (the real stuff though, not the icky kind that dispenses with a squirt). Envision your favorite pie. Can you see it? Now imagine picking up a knife and dividing that pie into eight slices.
Imagine that each slice represents a dimension of your wellness. There are eight mutually dependent dimensions of wellness:
- Emotional – feeling/being emotionally healthy, having a positive outlook
- Physical – having consistent exercise, healthy diet, quality sleep
- Occupational – fulfilling career/life purpose, volunteering
- Social – healthy relationships, a good support system, meeting new people
- Spiritual – knowing God, having convictions, strong prayer life, studying scripture
- Intellectual – keeping the mind healthy through lifelong learning
- Environmental – this is your surroundings (home, school, work),it’s also preserving natural resources
- Financial – feeling satisfied about your financial situation and secure in your financial future
With those eight slices of wellness in mind, you might notice that the slices aren’t necessarily equal in size. That jumbo slice you cut might represent your emotional health after experiencing a big loss and your emotions are overwhelming. The sliver-thin slice might represent your physical wellness; it’s small because you haven’t focused much on exercise in a while. That just-right slice might be your social health because your relationships are healthy and strong.
It’s important to notice which slices are lacking or feel too big because they will have an eventual impact on your overall wellness. So that big loss you experienced (such as death, divorce, job loss) is impacting emotional wellness and starting to impact your physical wellness because sleep is elusive. Perhaps that tiny slice representing your physical health is becoming increasingly evident as you experience weight gain or health issues. Now it’s impacting your emotions.
When any one aspect of wellness is neglected over time, it will adversely affect health, well-being, and quality of life. Why? Because they are interconnected. When one aspect is lacking, it can impact the others.
Let’s go back to thinking about pie
There’s a crust on the bottom and a golden brown crust on the top, perhaps it has a fancy design. Between that flaky crust is the filling. It’s the crucial ingredient because that’s what pie is. It’s filled with apples, pumpkin, or berries. When sliced, the filling is part of each piece, right?
OK, stay with me here.
For Christians, we have the best filling that surpasses any county fair blue ribbon pie. To use Pastor Rick Warren’s analogy, Jesus is the pie filling. He’s at the center and in every slice of our lives.
However, we have to let Him in. Invite him into the pieces that hurt, or are hard, seem impossible, the parts that feel shame or guilt, the happy parts, and the scary. Let Him be involved in each aspect of our well-being.
When one of the eight slices is lacking, cut too thin, or seems to be taking over the whole pie, take it to Jesus. Tell him what you need, what’s on your mind, what hurts, what’s lacking, what feels too big. Include Him in every dimension of your well-being.
Let Him in. His mercies, grace, forgiveness, and help are new every day. Nothing will surprise him.
Parents, take a look at the slices of your ‘wellness pie’. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the stress in one area won’t spill into another. The stress at work can spill over to how you interact with your spouse and children. A lack of spiritual health will seep into the other seven slices.
The good news is, as you draw closer to God, inviting him into each aspect of your life, he embraces you and draws closer to you. It’s a great reminder for your children to let them know that God desires to be part of every aspect of their lives, too.
Wellness comes from practicing healthy habits on a daily basis, making conscious choices that positively impact each of our eight dimensions of our wellness, and remembering that Jesus is there, no matter how you slice it.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
-James 4:8
A pie walks into a bar…
The barman says, “Sorry, we don’t serve dessert.”
ba dum dum
In Christ,
Peggy Kelly
Family Ministry
cccbillerica.org