Grounded!

No, it’s not what you might think. My husband didn’t “ground” me! Someone from Radiant Life Company sent a book called Earthing by Clinton Ober, Stephen Sinatra, M.D. and Martin Zucker. The cover declares that “we humans, as all other living beings, are electrical creatures on an electrical planet, and the ground beneath us is more than something we just stand, walk, play and build on.” It asks, “Are you electron deficient? The earth itself can remedy your deficiency and improve your health, energy, and sleep.”

The book is about being grounded—really, like plug a copper ground wire into the dirt kind of thing! The author says we will be healthier, sleep better, and get rid of inflammation if we would take our shoes off and walk through the grass or hug a tree! He has the science to support his theory. After reading that the thought floated into my head, hmmm, I wonder if the Lord imbedded more in Ephesians 3:16-19 than we normally think about. St. Paul would not have known about electricity with its protons, electrons and neutrons, but he would have understood grounding from an agricultural standpoint.

¹⁶That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; ¹⁷That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may be able to comprehend [appreciate, grasp, perceive, intuit, recognize, sense, understand] with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; ¹⁹And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

I began to research what it means to be grounded, first what it means for plants and then what it means to be grounded electrically. Agriculturally speaking, grounding is necessary for structural support and for the purpose of sustaining the life of the plant. The roots and the soil support the structure and supply nutrients from the soil. “That you may be able to comprehend the breadth, length and depth” . . . this is what roots do! They probe and explore all those places—breadth, length and depth! The nutrients brought from the soil build the plant so that it comprehends or attains the height potential that the DNA of the plant prescribes! Grounding in Christ would mean that as our roots grow deep into Christ He will support and nurture us. He keeps us from being blown about, knocked down and run over by life. As our roots go down and out in Christ He becomes our strength, He nurtures our spirit and soul and therefore, our bodies flourish.

 

Grounding in electrical terms is a safety issue, it’s about protection. It prevents fires, burns and fatalities--destruction. We are electrical beings, filled with electrons, protons and neutrons. But we can gain and lose electrons (negative charge) and protons (positive charge). If we shuffle across the carpet we are filled up with an abundance of positive protons and then when we touch a doorknob we receive a shock as our oversupply of + protons rush out and - neutrons rush in to stabilize our charge.

I don’t know if we have the equivalent to electrons and protons in our human spirit, but we can fill our spirit, soul and mind with negativity and zap the first happy individual who has the misfortune to wish us a good day! We can fill our minds and spirits with negative images, with pictures that degrade the beauty and nobility that God intended us to exhibit. For example, pornography brings addiction which pushes for expression, which leads to molestation and then assault, which leads to prison. The addicted person discharges the oversupply of negative within upon another of God’s children, but stabilization does not occur, rather, the negative expands. In the case of discharging negative spiritual garbage, two negatives do NOT a positive make! Building a negative charge digs the hole deeper downward.

On the other hand, we can fill our minds with what is true, noble, and right, with whatever is pure, lovely, and admirable—if something is excellent or praiseworthy—we can think about such things and fill our spirit, mind and soul with God’s positive charge Philippians 4:8. Then as we interact (or collide) with the world we release a positive charge! We become filled with the fullness of God by filling our minds with thoughts of Him, His nature and attributes, and ponder and meditate on them. Then when we talk about Him with others of like mind we build the positive charge of our spirit—we rise, stand taller and walk, talk and act increasingly more like Jesus.

Grounding ourselves in Christ is a spiritual protection. And here is a news flash! Storms and winds are essential to the health of the tree! As the tree sways in the wind it creates a prying action in the soil. The swaying opens avenues for the roots to expand further. Spiritually speaking? The storms of life may be necessary for spiritual vitality! Yikes! Oy!

Back to the issue of these earthing things--if anyone has used any of these products I’d love to hear how it/they worked.