Five Small Ways To Enrich Your Spiritual Life A Surprising Amount This Week

Sunday nights can be difficult.

The end of the weekend has come.  The time that many of us devote to that which is most enjoyable–our families, our pets, our homes, our leisure time, God, the church – is vanishing away, leaving the gray workweek ahead.  The turn from winding down to gearing up for the work week can be disenchanting, distracting, depressing.

Because of that, I have lately taken conscious steps to reclaim a sense of spiritual nourishment, wonder, and pleasure during the busy week.  These acts are small, but they can have profound implications for your spiritual life and your general sense of peace:

1. Leave your phone behind as much as you can.  I don’t mean put it down.  Leave it behind.  I know a lot of us need it when we’re on the job, but probably not when you’re at lunch with a coworker.  Not at the dinner table.  Not in the grocery store, not on the couch.  Put your phone somewhere and walk away.  You will suddenly have time to focus on others.  You will have time to think of God.  The evenings will seem longer.

2. Listen to the Bible on your morning commute.  No, not a devotional.  No, not a podcast.  No, not a Christian song.  Listen to God’s word, read aloud, in the morning as you drive.  Set the tone for your day.

3. Set aside some meditative time to listen to God.  I’ve been integrating certain aspects of the lectio divina (more on this in a later post!) into my prayer life lately, and have found that the concept of waiting for God to speak is both unnerving and very new.  Spend some time with God – making dinner, folding laundry – where you just listen for Him.  Consider a Scripture.  Consider God’s character.  See what jumps out at you.  See what you’re moved to do.

4. Make room for joy, and call it praise.  Carve out some time in your day, if only a half hour, for something pure that you love.  For me, it’s writing, crochet and knitting, photography.  Maybe for you it’s cooking or running or painting or redecorating.  Give yourself a little bit of that thing. Acknowledge it as a gift from a God who loves you, and praise, praise, praise appropriately.

5. As much as you can, give everything at work, and then leave work at work.  Work your best at what you do, whatever it is!  When you are on the clock, in the name of the Lord, give 110%.  This is your service, your ministry.  But when you leave, let the emails and stresses and worries and incomplete projects stay at work.  Turn your eyes to the new “season” of the day, and devote yourself to it: time to turn inward, to serve others, to engage in warmth and fellowship and love.

I wish you a blessed and nourishing week in the name of the Lord.