Spiritual Practices for a Healthy Summer

For College Students and the rest of us

As welcome as the summer break can be, it can also be a dangerous season. We fall out of our routines and end up taking a vacation from Jesus. Separated from our community at school, we can fall into old patterns that become spiritually destructive to our souls.
How can we look forward to the summer as a time to grow closer to God, not move further from him?

These are the essentials:
1. Preach the Gospel to Yourself Everyday! Compose a self-sermon you can pull out when you need it.
2. Read your Bible. There are some great plans out there. You can also get a daily Bible reading sent directly to your InBox.
3. Pray!
4. Get connected to a good Church community. Don’t believe the lie that “I’m only around a couple months, it doesn’t really matter if I connect or not.”

These practices go a long way towards your spiritual summertime health:
5. Make sure you take some downtime/vacation. And when you have downtime, make sure its truly resting. Sabbath is a Biblical principle. It means to cease from our regular activities in order to have extra time with God.
6. Make sure it’s not ALL downtime. Work is God-given and worthwhile, so get a job. In the rare situation that you don’t need to get a job, make sure you fill your time with Kingdom-building stuff. God has bigger and better plans for you than playing Wii all summer.
7. See your workplace as a mission field. From Day 1, think and pray about how you can share Jesus with your colleagues.
8. Lead! Many college students feel disconnected in the summer months—gather them for cookouts, trips, Bible studies. Be the initiator!
9. Share what you’ve learned this year with your old friends and family. Don’t be afraid to let them see how you’ve grown spiritually.
10. Be proactive in your relationships with friends and family. Repair those that are broken. Strengthen those that are weakened. Be intentional in carving out quality time with parents, siblings, high school friends.
11. Read good books that will stretch your faith. There are good Christian books out there for your personal spiritual growth, for reaching out with the Gospel to others, to thinking through your major and the culture from a Christian perspective. For suggestions, check out the list I started at the Missio Dei wiki!
12. Fast—summer can become a time of indulgence and distraction. Fasting helps reorient you to Who and What really matters.

This list is by nature not exhaustive. And none of these practices is ‘guaranteed’ to make you closer to God. The point is that they are designed to draw you into a closer, deeper relationship with the living God. Good spiritual practices don’t guarantee growth, but put you in the way of receiving God’s grace. Make the most of the summer and come back in August spiritually fed, strengthened, and ready for what God has for us!