I’m saving the best for last, as they say, and I want to show you why. Most people visiting my website and seeing how “Christian” it is would expect this to be the first thing I talk about, and, after all, the word “spiritual” is in the title of this blog series. So why haven’t I highlighted it before now?
Your spirituality is not just a part of you, it’s all of you. Maybe you’ve heard it said, “You are not a body with a soul, you are a soul with a body,” or some variation of this sentiment. The truth is, while your soul will outlast your earthly body, God cares about both. We read commands like Luke 10:27, “The man answered, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” The past weeks of talking about sleep, nutrition, movement, and social connection have been here to support you loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving people, too.
I want to show you that a holistic approach to your health is going to help you whether you are encountering physical, emotional, or spiritual problems. I remember attending a women’s retreat years ago where we were instructed to have a “quiet time,” but the leader also told us that if we fell asleep during the quiet time, that it was ok, and we didn’t need to feel guilty. She stated that God would love to hold us as we dozed and if our body drifted off that quickly, it was probably what we needed. I found so much grace in that statement. And it spurs me on now to remind people that taking care of your body’s needs is important to your connection with God. In fact, I believe that disregarding our physical health has ramifications for our spiritual life.
The same is true when it comes to social connection. There is so much in the Bible about having loving relationships with other humans. It’s not something that we can ignore and still expect our spiritual lives to thrive. So having talked through these things over the past weeks, it’s finally time that we got into some details that will help you deepen your spiritual life.
Quiet Time
Quiet Time (or QT) seems like a very Christian-y word that people outside the Church might not realize is code for reading the Bible, praying, and listening to God. And it’s also problematic that sometimes your life doesn’t exactly lend itself to time that is actually quiet! I have read lots of articles about doing Bible reading first thing in the morning, and how Jesus Himself would get up early to spend time with His Father. That may be the ideal, depending on your situation and personality, but let me tell you, it is not the only way to spend time with God. If you have felt guilty or inadequate because you couldn’t seem to wake up early enough to commune with God, let me release you from that.
Think about it this way: a woman has been instructed to exercise once a day for twenty minutes, and her doctor told her morning exercise would be better for her energy levels. The woman has two small children and also works a full time job. She gets up early to get herself ready before getting the kids dressed, fed, and off to daycare on her way to work. Feeling discouraged, she decided to make time after work to exercise, but she never feels quite good enough because her doctor told her the morning was better. Eventually, she ended up quitting exercise altogether because she thought her effort didn’t count. This sounds a little sad and ridiculous, right? You know logically that exercise any time of the day is better than no exercise during the day. So stop feeling guilty for having your “quiet time” at a less than ideal time of day. I’m far more concerned about you having consistency than having a perfect quiet time.
With that being said, here are some things to consider:
Timing: Find the timing that works for you. It could be over breakfast, during your lunch break, or before bed. For me, it works to go straight to my Bible after getting the kids down to sleep in the evening. It’s the only time I can count on consistently in my day.
Location: Where is the best place? The place where you’ll actually do it is the best place. For me that’s an armchair in my bedroom, but it used to be on the couch downstairs. I know some who do it at the kitchen table, the cubicle, or the car.
Content: I like to have some variety for my quiet times, which is why I’ll sometimes use a devotional plan from the YouVersion app, while other times I’ll read passages along with commentaries, and sometimes I spent significant time on memorization. You don’t have to do the same thing every day to have a good quiet time. Try out different disciplines to get the most out of your time.
Don’t Skip Fellowship
Fellowship is another one of those Christian-y words that mean something different outside the Church. Another word might be support system or social interaction. It’s just that we know among our Christian brothers and sisters that our social time has the possibility of much deeper meaning and benefit. In all my years as a Christ-follower, I have grown the most when I am part of a small group. Here are some ideas to keep you connected regularly to other Christians:
- Commit to a local church. They are all flawed. Pick the one where you can focus on what’s important and forgive what’s not.
- Serve with a team. Fighting human trafficking, cleaning up neighborhood parks, or helping people find a seat on Sundays–team experience builds your closeness to God and people.
- Find a small group. To know and be known by other people is where real growth happens.
- Take it online. If pandemic woes or your own schedule are preventing you from connecting in person, interact with a church or small group online.
- Make it social. Social media, that is. There are some great groups out there of like-minded people who want to share in your faith journey.
- Become a host. Invite someone over, even if it’s socially distanced in your front yard, or the only thing you know how to make is microwave popcorn for a movie.
Easy Daily Habits
These are the things that can become automatic–you don’t have to think much about them and they keep you connected to God and His people while you are taking care of your physical and emotional needs.
- Turn on worship music in your car and in your home.
- Listen to Christian podcasts while you exercise, drive, cook, and clean.
- Keep a prayer list that you can refer to easily to remember other people in your prayers.
- Develop a reading habit–even if it’s two pages a day, or five minutes, you will read more books this way than if you didn’t develop this habit.
- Memorize Scripture. You can start by searching the top 10 verses to memorize and work from there, putting them on your phone screensaver or post-it notes on your bathroom mirror and dashboard of your car.
I’d love to hear what other routines you implement to keep your spiritual life thriving. Post in the comments!
Next week I’ll be giving you a glimpse of a few different daily/weekly routines to show you some of many possibilities for a lifestyle that supports mental and spiritual health.
Recent Comments