A devotional by Carol Musser, LMFT.

Springtime brings so much joy! The warm sunshine, blue skies, and new growth as the trees and lawns begin to turn green! Each spring I enjoy walking around my flower beds to check on my perennials as they peek through the earth, and the new colorful annuals I just planted to make sure they are watered.   My red knock-out roses are one of my favorites.

One morning recently, I noticed something was different.  My rose bushes had holes in their leaves.  As I looked closer, I spied a fuzzy caterpillar munching away on a leaf.  In that moment, I knew this was the perfect illustration as we look at ways to maintain good mental health.  Let’s take a look at preventative measures to keep our mental health clear of any “munching.”

May is Mental Health Awareness Month.  What is Mental Health?

Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act, and helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Over the course of your life, if you experience mental health problems, your thinking, mood, and behavior could be affected. ~SAMSHA.gov

The caterpillar’s appetite was destructive to my rose bushes and prompt attention was needed to curb his munching.  So, it is with our mental health.  Diligence is needed to keep our mental landscape free from negative thoughts that hinder our emotional, psychological, and social well-being.

Here are some basic steps to enhance our mental health to limit our “caterpillars.”

• Basic things, like good sleep hygiene, exercise, and nutritional meals, aid in caring for our physical bodies and affect our mental health as well.
• Being mindful of the negativity you allow in your mind, such as, worry, jealousy, bitterness, comparison, etc. Limit social media if needed.  Take a break from watching  the news. Instead, plug into a gratitude list, focus on your blessings, not what you don’t have.  Read good things including the Bible to renew your mind.
• Reduce stress by allowing time to relax and recharge. Take inventory of the things that create pressure in your work, school, or home life and replace them with some fun activities that bring you joy.  Connect with family, friends, and the body of Christ.
• Take care of past hurts, resentments, and disappointments. Ask yourself, “who do I need to forgive, or to whom do I need to seek forgiveness? What emotions do I need to process to eliminate hurt and disappointment from my mind?”   Pray for God’s healing and your willingness to work through these persistent thoughts.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. — Romans 12:12 NIV

• If you are struggling, seek out your pastor, elder, life group leader or friend for encouragement and accountability. This is not the time to be a lone ranger and tough it out alone.
• Perhaps, seek professional help. (By the way, seeking professional help is not an indication of your spiritual weakness, lack of faith, nor does it label you as a failure.)
• Improving your relationship with God through prayer and meditation ultimately creates new growth in each one of us, just like the flowers in my garden.
• As Christians, we have the ultimate guide to inner peace and tranquility found in the Scriptures. We have a healing and caring God, as well, as a loving community to walk with us through struggles.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. — Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. — Ephesians 4:2 NIV

Now back to the lowly caterpillar:  When I saw this guy munching on my precious rose leaves, it reminded me of how I allow those pesty things like resentment, anger, hurt and unforgiveness to munch away at my precious mental health and destroy my inner peace.  Much like it disturbed me to see the destruction this little guy was doing to my rose, God gently reminded me that my lack of care for my own mental health at times was not His design for me.  I was letting those pesty, peace-destroying thoughts steal my joy!

Thanks, caterpillar, for the timely reminder to watch out for the almost imperceptible “munching” going on in my thought-life and to turn my heart and mind toward the only One who brings peace, serenity, and true growth to our lives.

How about you?  Have you done a thought check or evaluated your care of God’s temple as it relates to good physical and mental health?   Why not join me?  If you need a caterpillar as a reminder, I have a few I can share.