Emotional Spirituality

Have you ever thought about how often people use the line, "I didn't participate in that activity (altar time, etc) because I didn't want my response to God to be just emotions."? Translation: "I was afraid of what God might say to me, or try to do in my life, so I let my insecurities keep me in my chair." I used to buy that line (I mean excuse) from people until I realized just how ridiculous it is. We say that we don't want our emotions to be the only reason (or one of the reasons) that we respond to God, but do we realize that God gave us our emotions and even made us to be emotional beings?

Seriously though, think about it. We don't want our emotions to interfere with our relationship with God, because we say that we don't want to make a decision based on just feelings. Yet, at the same time, we will let our emotions and feelings "invade" or even drive other relationships - ie: who we date, who our friends are, & how we treat people. If we let our emotions permeate other areas of our lives (with both good and sometimes bad consequences), then why do we single God out of those emotions? Are we afraid that we will over-commit to His love? Are we afraid that we will surrender too much of our lives to Him? Are we afraid that it will change our lives more than we really want?

Don't get me wrong, I believe that there needs to be balance in our emotions. We need to learn how to be emotionally mature and not give in to follow every single feeling that comes out of our hearts. We also can't exclude our relationship with our Savior when it comes to being "emotionally involved", when we let feelings be a part of every other area of life.