3 Things I'm Doing to Grow Closer to God This Summer
It's finally here! Summer is finally here! I absolutely love summer. It's my absolute favorite time of year filled with tons of sunshine, talks chatting on the back patio and honeybee lemonade. There's just nothing better than this season. (Don't tell Fall though, because I am a huge fan of when she brings me all things pumpkin-spice and scarf weather.)With all the relaxation that this season brings, I think it's easy for us to throw off some of our hustle for a lack of a better term. We don't have as many deadlines. Days seem longer. We don't seem to strive as much with vacations around the corner. And sometimes, our faith journeys can take a serious hit too.There's one TV show that never ceases to remind me of lazy and not-so-lazy summer days.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f30krhObvJg"There's 104 days of summer vacation / And school comes along just to end it / So the annual problem for our generation / Is finding a good way to spend it..."Those 4 lines... I have a bit of trouble understanding them. You see, I don’t think I have ever had a problem trying to figure out how to spend my summers. I don’t have the engineering skills Phineas & Ferb have or haven't ever gone on quite as many crazy adventures, but I feel like I do summer well. There’s something about summer though that seems so freeing. Maybe it’s the opportunity to wear Chacos and not have cold toes. Maybe it’s anything and everything about the lake. I’d love to say it’s the warmth. I'm currently outside writing from my hammock and not loving the heat so much currently, so maybe it's not that.
Intentionality in Summer
I think it’s important to look at how we use our summers. It’s a time of rest for school and from certain jobs for many. (Hello teachers!) Some of us may be looking at making this time "useful" as we have a little extra time for working on our goals or on our hobbies. It's important to pause and look at this new season right as it’s beginning. Let's do that right now. Let's pause and look at Galatians 6:7-10.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Paul is talking here about what we’ve been talking about lately over the past few weeks with our habits, our spiritual disciplines, the things we do to grow closer to God. Whoever sows to please their flesh - to please their earthly desires is going to reap destruction - the consequence of sin. BUT those who are sowing to please the Spirit - that’s the Holy Spirit, part of God, the trinity - will reap eternal life. That's such a big deal. What does that mean for us on a daily basis? How can we even begin to sow seeds to please the Holy Spirit? What does that even look like? It looks like us taking daily steps towards a deeper relationship with Jesus. For you, that may be different than what it looks like for me to draw closer to God.
What can we do to sow seeds of faith this summer? What can we do to connect closer to God?
Let’s look at some ways to connect to God. Acting on these ways to connect to God are the very ways we can begin sowing seeds that will draw us closer to Him. We're not going to be able to add everything on this list and we're not meant to. I'd challenge you to start by adding just one or two on this summer. Really focus on how to use those disciplines to grow closer to God throughout the process.
Reading Scripture
Praying
Meditating On + Memorizing Scripture
Worshipping Him Publicly (Church, Bible Study)
Worshipping God Privately (Time alone with God)
Living on Mission (Getting outside of your comfort zone for God. That may look like actively stepping into something that allows you to serve someone that doesn't look like you.)
Practicing Sabbath Rest
Fasting (Fasting is giving up something that interferes with your relationship with God. It can also be giving up something to feel a deeper connection to His sacrifice for you on the cross.)
Showing Generosity
Forgiving Others
Forgiving Ourselves
Journaling/Creative Expression to God (Art, Music, Writing, etc.)
Sharing Meals Together
Being Present - IRL Conversation + not just showing each other memes on your phones.
Being Accountable for Your Sin (Getting an Accountability Friend or Group)
Fighting Injustice
This is a super brief overview of a variety of ways to draw closer to God. This isn’t everything though. If you feel God tugging at your heart to follow Him a different way than something on this list, act on that nudge in your heart. I said earlier that this may look different from person to person. We are all on different areas of our relationship journey with God. I think what He's calling us to in different seasons of our own lives can look both very similarly and very different than those around us. That is completely okay!
3 Things I'm Doing to Grow Closer to God This Summer
Early morning times with God are something that I'll be focusing on this summer. I'm not a morning person. Even when I'm at camp, I roll out of bed and do my day. Taking time with God first thing in the morning for me is hard. I tend to wait and have time alone with Him at other junctures of my day that are more convenient for me. I've starting trying to make the first priority of my day to be with God. Right when I wake up I've been reading the Psalms on my phone. It's been helping me get a grasp on the routine of the first part of my day being with God. I'm switching on June 4th to follow She Reads Truth with this study over 1st and 2nd Corinthians. The goal will be to do it first thing in my day and not just fitting it in wherever feels most convenient. Living a Healthy Lifestyle is something that is also a struggle for me. For the past few months, I feel like God has been laying on my heart that there is a reality that my body is a temple and is meant to be a vessel here on earth to glorify Him. As much as I love Mexican food and ice cream, I can't indulge in that as much as I do. Working out and treating my body in a way that says that I do value it is something I need to start doing. I am going to be eating healthier and doing a work out program called FitbyFirst by Carlos Whittaker during June. I will be doing past emails from a prior fitness movement course as there isn't a June group.Sabbath Rest is where one sets aside a full 24 hours where they don't work while putting their trust in God that He will make everything happen and keep the world spinning without them. This one is hard. Work can be super subjective depending on what you love to do. I hate laundry and dishes, so that won't get done on my sabbath. One of the ways that I'm working it in is that I am pre-scheduling my entire summer of sabbaths. Since my week-to-week doesn't always look the same, sometimes my Sabbath changes by a few days. Pre-scheduling it out allows me to keep that day sacred. It also helps me to visually see ahead of time that those days will need preparation (dishes + laundry!) before they happen.
This Conversation with God
When you identify your thing or things that you need to sow into and work on this summer in your relationship with God, I want you to immediately make some action points towards that. In each of mine above, I wrote out a bit of my beginning actions that would spur me towards reaping a closer relationship to God. If you're not sure what those are, I'd love to help you identify some. While this commitment is between you and God, I do recommend you to let someone know what you're working on these summer months to help you have some accountability, especially on those hard days when you just want to throw in the towel.This is a conversation that you are starting with God about your hopes, desires and expectations of how He will begin to move in your life this summer and how you are committing to follow Him where He leads you. It doesn’t end here with making a commitment to sow into your faith journey one or even a few things right now. This is a conversation that you're starting, an adventure you're embarking out on. A commitment that will change your life if you sow in and allow God to reap the harvest in His timing. Enjoy that journey, friend.Feel free to write your sowing seeds in the comments. I'd love to see what you're working on this summer.