A New Year's resolution to feed your spirit Published Dec. 30, 2009 By Chaplain (Capt.) Matthew C. Simpson 445th Airlift Wing WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- At this time each year, millions of people in our country will make New Year's resolutions. The most common resolution people make is either to eat less or to eat more healthy food, in short - to take better care of one's physical need. Our physical need is one of the total wellness needs; in addition to our emotional, social and spiritual needs. We must attend to all these needs to have balance in our lives - to be totally well. Most often, we attend to feeding our physical, emotional and social needs, but we neglect our spiritual need. Perhaps, because our "spirituality" is the most abstract and invisible of all our needs, we are not intentional about meeting that need. Unlike feeling physical hunger when we miss even a single meal, we most often do not feel our spiritual hunger, even when we neglect nourishing our spirits for long durations. However, just as our bodies need the proper nourishment to survive and thrive, so do our spirits. Isaiah 57:15 presents the Holy God as one who wants to satisfy our spiritual hunger, regardless of our position or condition, For this is what the high and lofty One says--he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite (NIV)." Your 445th Airlift Wing chapel team members, as visible reminders of the Holy God, stand ready not just to be a reminder of your spiritual needs, but primarily to meet those spiritual needs. As your newest chaplain, I greatly look forward to serving and meeting your spiritual needs this New Year!