Faith & Insight: Having a low time? These spiritual disciples can help

Happy summer, reader! I hope you’ve been having a great time on vacations and at local events, hanging out with family and friends, and staying cool in the heat.

I can relate if it hasn’t been as carefree as you hoped; Myself and a few friends have been experiencing what we’ve been calling a “low week.” There is nothing overly serious going on in our lives, but our moods and energy are zapped.

There can be a lot of reasons for this; the weather, physical or emotional factors, anxieties, stress, and more. If you are finding yourself in a similar place for a long period of time, I hope you have a trusted friend, pastor, counselor or therapist to speak to.

May I suggest if you are in a low place that attending to your spiritual side may help? That has been the case for me, and the practices, called spiritual disciplines by Christians, can help you through a summer (or any season) slump.

Three other benefits are that if you are interested in the God of the Christians, these are easy ways to look at who God is (and you’ll find that he wants to be known). If you are a Christian, they will help you grow in your faith in Jesus.

Finally, these disciplines have been linked to multiple mental and physical benefits. I love a good list. Here’s a litany of four spiritual disciples you can start today.

• Reading the Bible - This can be done at your own pace; I re-started a plan I found online that takes 10 minutes a day, 3-5 chapters, five days a week. If it’s your first time, I recommend reading all the way through starting in the New Testament.

The Bible is, as stated by the Bible Project, meditative literature, so the goal is to read, re-read, and think about what you’ve read.

• Silence and solitude - Our lives can get LOUD. Our physical and emotional health can be affected, and we can become so used to noise and the presence of others that we don’t know what’s going on in our own lives.

Could you turn it all off and be silent for 10-15 minutes? What about three times a week? You start by sitting and asking God to be with you and set a timer.

• Prayer - Prayer, as stated by one theologian named Wayne Grudem, is personal communication with God. It is as easy as starting a conversation with an all-present God. You can adapt this to prayer for others, going on a prayer walk, or praying through a psalm or the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 verses 9-11.

You read a line and then talk to God about it to make it personal. Whatever you try, try to make a regular practice of it for 30 days. May you be enriched through them, relieved of any low times you may be in, and discover that as you draw near to God, he draws near to you.

Gavin Jarvis is lead pastor at Living Stones Church.