To nourish.

It is to supply someone or something with what is necessary to sustain life in such a way that it is healthy and able to grow.  Think of a plant.  While it needs water, water alone will not bring it to its fullest potential.  It also needs sun, fertilizer, a bath from time to time to wash the dust off of its leaves.  Add the need for a little support as it continues to grow, more nutrients, quiet and restful nights, the right balance of warmth and coolness, gentle breezes to challenge its toughness, and the loving hand of someone who can help keep the bad weeds and bugs at bay.  Oh, and don’t forget, the need for an occasional good thunderstorm to boost its growth and greenness.  It turns out that there is so much more to nourishing a plant than we think…

And consequently, there’s so much more to nourishing life than that which is easiest to stuff in our mouths and satisfy our tummies…

Nourishing can also involve the things we cherish or even being cherished by another. Life grows best when we are fostered, when we know and understand what truly keeps us alive in this world.  Nourishment can be things that strengthen, build up or promote us, and vice a versa in our participation of the life of someone else.  All of these definitions not only inherently sustain life, but make it brighter, richer, and deeper in meaning.  They are often what makes life worth living, worth being alive.

While the definition of “nourish” stirred my soul as I read it, what awakened my senses to its boundless limits and applications, was the list of synonyms that abide with it.  As you read over the list below (and these were just some of the words), take a moment with each one and try to visualize the last time you saw that word being lived out:

• Attend
• Cherish
• Comfort
• Cultivate
• Encourage
• Foster
• Maintain
• Nurture
• Promote
• Tend
• Supply
• Develop
• Discipline
• Educate
• Instruct
• Rear
• Teach
• Train
• Admire
• Appreciate
• Care for
• Cling to
• Defend
• Dote on
• Embrace
• Encourage
• Entertain
• Guard
• Hold in high esteem
• Honor
• Hug
• Idolize
• Love
• Prize
• Revere
• Safeguard
• Shelter
• Shield
• Treasure
• Value
• Aid
• Alleviate
• Assist
• Calm
• Cheer
• Commiserate with
• Confirm
• Console
• Delight
• Divert
• Ease
• Enliven
• Fill
• Gladden
• Grant respite
• Hearten
• Invigorate
• Lighten burden
• Make well
• Mitigate
• Put at ease
• Quiet fears
• Reanimate
• Reassure
• Relieve
• Remedy
• Salve
• Soften
• Solace
• Soothe
• Strengthen
• Stroke
• Sympathize

Just reading the list spoke softly to my soul of the value that comes to ourselves and others when we live out the true character of any of those words.  Thoughts of many, young and old, came to my mind.  Times when someone needed to be cheered on, invigorated, and reanimated in their journey.  Times when another soul needed to be supported, defended or doted on.  Those who have needed an embrace or a hug to celebrate or commiserate together; to know that they were not totally alone in their personal journey.

To be cared for, assisted, encouraged, tended to, or sheltered will be the need of each of us at some point in our lives.  To know that we, and they, are loved, prized, treasured, delighted in, held in high esteem, even if it just comes from a knowing look across the room that acknowledges they matter.  A hand on the shoulder to let them know you are glad they are.

Life is full of moments where we are teaching or being taught, training or being trained, educating or being educated, developing or being developed, cultivating or being cultivated. All for our growth or the growth of another, much like the plant that has pushed up through the soil and is figuring out how to survive, how to bend correctly but not break, where to send its roots, and how to wait patiently for the coolness of dusk and stillness of night after a long day of working hard to receive and make good use of the warm sunshine.

And then there are times when we need to be attended to.  When comfort is the only thing that can ease our pain, and even then, comfort will serve only as a distraction, not a solution. There we may need to cling to loved ones to survive the storm raging within our lives; reminding us that we are appreciated, loved and admired; that our presence on this earth is cherished.  It is in those moments, where our worries may be diverted, calmed, or reassured by the simple presence of a kind, sympathetic soul.  Where a dinner brought can put our evening at ease because someone tried to mitigate our burdens, hearten us, and grant us a little respite from life’s daily and steady demands.

These small (or big) acts alleviate our suffering, relieve us, become salve to our souls, soften the harsh realities we may face, strengthen our feeble frames for the next day, and grant us solace.  They are the moments that truly fill us.

It is where our souls and lives are nourished.

Can we see where we might be missing the main point of this life if we only focus on getting by?  Doing only that which is best for us?  Life is not just about survival, but what we are given and what we give.  Can our relationships really grow if we are not being nourished? Can those relationships grow if we are not nourishing others?  Might that be what a living and true faith is really about?

The list, below, of antonyms to “nourish” hit home the list above and the power they hold to make this world a better place should we choose to live them out in our lives and the lives of those who surround us:

Abandon, deprive, neglect, starve, denounce, forsake, not care, renounce, aggravate, annoy, bother, distress, exasperate, hurt, irritate, provoke, torment, torture, trouble, and vex.

Just to name a few.  It is easy to see how life can fail in that environment.  How a plant can die even in the right soil.  If it is abandoned, forsaken, not cared for, deprived of what is needed to grow strong, neglected in the areas that it needs help, or starved of food, water, light, wind or rest, the plant will perish.

Better yet, life is not just about people and their basic physical needs.  Really, it seems to be more about people interacting–how we treat each other, and the relationships that blossom and grow among us.  Frequent hurts, irritations, and aggravations can lead to communication becoming stifled and broken down.  Tormenting, vexing, exasperating each other never amount to good, healthy, growing, strong relationships.  Neither does abandoning, depriving, neglecting or starving another of the key emotional, physical or spiritual nutrients (see the list above for a refresher) that is needed a more nourished and full life.  Honestly, these antonyms cause relationships (and the people in them) to break down and fade away.  They are not what leave us feeling full…

So let us continue to think on what can truly nourish (and what does not) our souls and the souls of those within our reach…

“Do not labor for food which perishes, but for food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give to you…”  John 6:26-27