10 Spiritual Resolutions

(Editor’s Note: Many of us (me in particular), have a difficult time with discipline. Our fear of turning our faith into a series of routines and religious habits keeps us from experiencing any structured spiritual life, from daily devotionals to structured Bible study. For those of us who naturally lead scattered lives, this sort of discipline can be enormously helpful both in our every day lives and in our relationship with God. Thankfully, Thomas Turner’s 10 Spiritual Resolutions speaks directly to that. Enjoy.)

Who cares if you look like a supermodel if your soul devours pork rinds for breakfast and then potato chip cookies all day long? Spiritual health and vitality is more important than any other help because it is the foundation for correctly viewing your physical, mental, and emotional health. So let’s get on a spiritual diet of bread and wine! Here are ten great ideas to kick off your new year in a way that you are growing in your spiritual life.

1. Praying the Daily Office. Waking up in the morning, sometimes you might feel too groggy, or maybe too busy or too unprepared, for silent, spontaneous prayer. Praying the Daily Office at morning (and mid-day and night as well) helps develop a rhythm in your life that spontaneity cannot always accomplish. Also, praying the Daily Office of a denomination you are unfamiliar with helps broaden your spiritual life to incorporate the ways and interpretations of a religious community you may have never considered before.

2. Lectio Divina. As the Daily Office is to prayer, lectio divina is to Scripture reading. Daily devotions can seem a nuisance or disappointment. Reading random passages of the Bible is not devotional, yet it passes as typical devotions for many people. Instead, try devoting yourself to the Scriptures in an organized, methodical way, reading the Bible. Lectio: Read the passage slowly three or four times. Meditatio: Reflect on the text of the passage, thinking about how it applies to your own life. Choose one particular phrase or word that seems to be of particular importance to you this day. This is not an interpretation of Scripture but a personal observation of how the Holy Spirit is moving your reading. Oratio: Respond to the passage by opening the heart to God. Do not try to interpret the passage but instead have a conversation with God about the passage. Contemplatio: Listen to the words God is speaking to you. Continue to free yourself from your own thoughts and listen to the voice of God. Throughout the day, repeat the passage over in your mind and think about how it can mold your thoughts during the day.

3. Make Your Own Prayer Beads. Sometimes you just need help to remember God throughout the day with all the hustle and bustle of life surrounding you. You always remember your keys in your pocket, so try to make a small set of beads looped with a cross to remember to pray without ceasing.

4. Confessions Journal. You do not need to write down all the naughty stuff you did, journaling is an exercise that frees your mind to wrestle with prayer, devotion, and Scripture in a self-reflective environment, like Augustine in his Confessions. Let your soul pour out.

5. Follow the Church Calendar. Remembering the Church Calendar is far more integral to a cohesive spiritual life than gaining more feast days. The Church Calendar reminds us that we are not part of this world, with its own calendar of bank holidays and remembrance of military victories—we are part of the Church and celebrate the Kingdom of God.

6. Five Minute Timeout. Remember when you were little and you had to sit in silence for five minutes if you did something wrong? I would always try to fill my silence with Legos or Highlights for Children. Silence is a very effective way of calming your soul down and preparing yourself to re-enter civilization, whether after a temper tantrum or after a long day at work. Silence quiets our hearts before God.

7. Read a Book from your Polar Opposite. Are you an Anglican or Lutheran wanting to rejuvenate your spiritual life? A Baptist yawning about immersion? A Presbyterian tired of singing Psalms? Instead of picking up the Ninety-five theses or hymnal again, try to reach out and expand your horizons a bit. If you’re a Baptist, read the Church Fathers. If you are a mainliner, try to read some Pentecostal or charismatic works. Open your heart up to the possibility God is moving in mysterious (to us, anyway) ways.

8. Practice the Sabbath. Seriously, stop doing chores and work for one day a week and let yourself unwind. Busyness is an enemy of spiritual health, slamming the door on communication with God by jamming the line with empty static. Even in college, I would not do any schoolwork from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday. It worked wonders for my emotional, mental, and spiritual health.

9. Have a Eucharist. Too often we forget that communion was a love feast, a reversal of the stoic Passover feast into a celebration of not only God’s sacrifice but his conquering of death as well. If you are in a small group or meet with Christian brothers and sisters regularly, would you consider having communion with them? _And as a tangent, try to practice hospitality and guest-having more often. Guests help us break out of our close knit family and marriage conversations and fellowship with others who may encourage us as we take up our crosses each day.

Posted on February 11, 2008 12:00 AM