Ah, lovely, lovely summer! I’m looking forward to the blessings of the more relaxed pace of summer. I’m excited about it already. I am imagining now my trip to the beach with my family, and that great feeling of being relaxed and stress free. Of course, sometimes things end up differently than that.
Summer is also a time for spiritual lethargy. I can experience a deadness to the things of God. While it may feel like a mystery, the reasons aren’t that hard to figure out. My small group doesn’t meet, so I’m not getting the blessing of interacting with others around a passage of scripture and having my own faith stretched and strengthened. I’m not teaching or participating in Foundations weekly, which has its own great effect on me. My practices which help refresh my soul personally are less disciplined than other times, perhaps in part because of the absence of the other influences there.
My guess is that I’m not alone in this struggle. What can we do to deal with this lethargy? How do we address it so that our souls flourish instead of languish? Here are some thoughts that come to mind:
1) Read John 15:1-11 at least once a week during the summer. This passage reminds us that our life is in Christ alone, and we live a fruitful life only in close communion with him. Take a few minutes with it, pray about it, and ask for grace to live in close contact with Christ. This will both allow you to seek God’s strength in prayer, and to be strengthened in your own thinking about this.
2) Meet up with a partner to do the previous suggestion several times together during the summer. Pick a prayer buddy and check in during the summer.
3) Worship with God’s people somewhere whenever possible. It’s easy during vacation weeks to leave out worship. It’s uncomfortable to find a church, and perhaps inconvenient to go to a strange place to worship. It can be great in several ways. I’ve met some neat Christians that way. I’ve been personally encouraged. I’ve come to appreciate the differences. In some cases, I returned to GCC with greater appreciation for my teammates and our congregation. It’s a hassle, but try it.
4) Simplify devotional practices in favor of doing something rather than nothing. You are out of the patterns and habits that sustained you before. Read a short section of scripture (Psalms, Proverbs, a shorter New Testament letter) and try to get everything you can out of it. Less time is still better than no time when it comes to soul care. One idea is to read a short New Testament book several times over the summer- short passages, mull over and think through them. Then if you make great progress, start over again with the same book.
5) Use a high quality devotional book instead of #4. When I say high quality, I mean that these devotionals help you read the scripture and get something out of it. Here are two that people are raving about at GCC these days:
The Songs of Jesus by Tim Keller. This one takes you through the Psalms.
New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp.
Summer is a wonderful gift from God - it’s warm and beautiful, and the pace is different. May this summer also be a time of a renewed and refreshed soul.
In Him,
Don