Polished Northwest Arkansas

Integrate (verb): To form into one whole; to make entire; to complete; to renew; to restore; to perfect.

Work and home, sacred and secular, head and heart — our world likes neat categories. We have masterfully separated and compartmentalized aspects of our lives for ages: Keep your personal life out of work, shut down your feelings in favor of logic, and over-spiritualize everything at the expense of acknowledging your reality. However, research shows us that living a whole, integrated life leads to health and flourishing.

Jesus beautifully modeled this way of living in His life on earth. He brought His whole self with Him wherever He went—showing up authentically with His head and heart, taking time away when needed, celebrating, feasting, and even stopping as He taught so that everyone could eat. Until His last moments in the garden, where He cried out to God in anguish at the task before Him, He brought His whole, authentic self among His friends and before God.

What would it look like for you to live an integrated life? Consider all the parts of your life – work, family, hobbies, faith, friends, community, mental health, and home. Together, all of those parts form a whole: you. Though we’ve broadly been trained to compartmentalize our lives, we believe we were meant to live an integrated life.

Join us this month at Polished as we explore what it means to live an integrated life. We want you to be able to show up authentically, wholeheartedly, and fully as yourself wherever you are. What would it look like for you to integrate your faith and work? To acknowledge and care for your mental health, even if it initially looks like less productivity at work? To let your emotions serve as essential information indicators as you make decisions at work and home?

Host or Publisher 4word