One of our baseball dads wears a smartwatch that monitors a variety of indicators detected through his wrist. I watched that dad when his son was pitching, and it indicated a heightened heart rate, blood pressure, and stress. Then it made suggestions for what he should do. I laughed when he tapped it and snapped verbally at his wrist, “Mind your own business!” In all seriousness, it’s a helpful tool for monitoring what’s happening inside his body and helping to make decisions in light of those indicators.

So, what do you use as your indicators for monitoring your SPIRITUAL heart? What tells you that you need to devote additional attention to your heart?

I think that through a variety of things, I find what my friend’s watch does for his physical health does for my soul. Perhaps you’re trying to assess that too.

So, here are the questions I ask:

• When was the last time you prayed more than a superficial prayer?
• When was the last time you spent significant time reading or studying the Bible?
• When was the last time you lost your temper, and what led to it?
• What kind of solitude are you pursuing?
• When was your last meaningful conversation with your spouse?
• When your kids talk to you, do you give them undivided attention or just enough to get them to move on?
• How is your exercise regimen going?
• What are you reading to stimulate your mind?

This is not an exhaustive or universal list. It’s just the kind of questions I tend to ask myself to evaluate my own soul and how my soul-health is affecting my life. I think if I know what I’m doing to fuel my soul, I can predict the condition of my heart.

That’s why personal patterns of prayer, solitude, and Scripture are so important. We’re bombarded every day by sources that are very intentional and belligerent about what they want us to think and do. But we must choose to give God access to our hearts. Typically, we don’t pay attention to those concerns until we’re in a crisis of trouble or pain. It’s a bad idea to ignore cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose levels, and exercise until we have a stroke. Often, it’s too late to make helpful changes.

Tending the soul AFTER an affair, AFTER an immoral choice, AFTER crushing a relationship, or AFTER a huge breakdown leaves us regrets and wishing we had paid attention sooner.

So are you tending your soul? Now? If not, use today to begin to treat your soul as a precious gift. God sees it that way. Will you?