by Andrew Cromwell
These
days is seems the new most popular phrase in the business and government sector
is that things need to be “sustainable.” Well, that and “resilient” but we’ll
save resilience for another article. The dictionary definition of sustainable
is simply, “able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.”
It’s
a simple concept and applies in almost every area of life. If you are a runner,
you know that you have to run at a pace that is sustainable if you are going to
finish the race. If you set a pace that is too fast for the length of run, then
you will exhaust your energy before you get to the finish line. If you are a
lumberjack (or a lumber company), you know that if you cut down more trees than
you have land and time to regrow trees, then you will be out of business. And
if you are a farmer, you know that you can’t plant more land than you have
water to irrigate—it’s not sustainable.
We
talk about sustainable business practices. Sustainable water usage. Sustainable
environmental policies. Sustainable government spending.
And
it’s a good thing! If you pump more water out of the ground than the rain can
replenish, then the water table drops and your crops (or you) die. If you
overfish the ocean, then you or your children won’t enjoy the incredible
variety of seafood we enjoy today. And if you chop down all the forests and
jungles, then we’ll burn up sooner than later.
All
of these examples are based on the assumption that the world is made up of
interconnected systems that are directly affected by how much is pumped,
fished, or harvested. For the system to remain healthy, it has to stay
balanced. But that doesn’t mean that the system shouldn’t be stressed or
challenged. It is very possible to harm the system by not taking enough out of
the system, just as much as it is by taking too much out of the system.
For
example, the US Forestry service has recognized that some of their policies for
forest management have been based on a faulty model that assumes that the way
to keep the forest system balanced is to minimize the amount of forest fires.
The result has been that in many places the forest has actually become less
healthy as a result. Fires that would normally have thinned out the forest and
allowed for healthy new growth, have been prevented so forests have become
overcrowded and increasingly susceptible to disease and insect attack. As the
rangers have recognized this mistake, they are now either starting controlled
burns or allowing fires to naturally burn out.
So
what’s the point you may ask?
Well
here it is. You are also caught in this interconnected web of systems. You as
an individual are an organism that must live in balance. You must live life at
a pace and in a way that is sustainable. If you don’t, you will become
overworked, underproductive, and unhealthy.
This
means that you can’t take out more than you put in. This is not only true of
things like food—if you don’t eat enough calories to offset the amount of
energy expended (which might be a good idea for a while), you will eventually
become sick and die of starvation. It is also true of emotional and spiritual
food. If you don’t spend enough time caring for your soul and always give out
to your spouse, your children, your family and your friends, then you will
eventually become sick.
On
the flipside, if you don’t ever stress yourself and give of yourself to others,
work hard to achieve goals, and generally stretch yourself, then you’ll get
sick too. You’ll end up fat and lazy. You’ll run out of energy and you’ll stop
enjoying life.
The
key is a healthy balance.
So
what are you doing to care for your spirit, your soul, and your body? Are you
feeding yourself in these three areas? Your spirit needs to connect with Father
God. Your soul needs healthy doses of truth, silence and forgiveness. And your
body needs some exercise and healthy food. If you don’t put enough in then
you’re going to be sick.
Maybe
that’s part of your problem!
