Five things you should do (almost) everyday to grow closer to God
Read your Bible pray every day and you'll grow, grow grow!
Sound advice right?
If you remember singing this song back in "the day" in your church or Sunday school or kids club then you were probably taught over and over that the most important things we can do every single day are to read scripture and talk to God. Yeah, that's true and super important but maybe it should go a little beyond a Sunday School song and a quick "God be with me today" hail mary that is thrown up while you're running out the door.
There's more to this thing called following Jesus, it's not just a few minutes at the beginning of your day it actually involves the WHOLE day of every day and every week of every month and every year of your life.
Take a deep breath, it's not that complicated I promise.
It took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out some daily rhythms of connecting with God and by no means do I have it all together. It frequently changes because of two little humans whose names I shall not mention and it takes some tweaking, some grace and some deep breathes but I have landed on a routine that works for me right now.
Here are 5 things I do every single day to stay connected with God.
1. Scripture and some quiet time before ANYTHING else.
Raise your hand if you are becoming a slave to your phone (waving hand with phone in it violently) Scrolling, snooping, checking emails and text messages should not be the first (or second, third or fourth) thing we look at in the morning. What is the most important thing to fill your mind and soul with before your day even starts? Jesus, the answer to that question is Jesus. Put your identity in Him, fill your mind with Him, not with likes, emails, messages, news, weather or other unimportant stuff.
2. Table Time
One of our family goals over the last 6 months has been to eat together at the table 2 times a day - breakfast and supper. This can be difficult with babies and toddlers who have to pee right when we sit or are having meltdowns or don't like the rice and cucumbers you have on his plate even though it's the only stinkin' thing he will eat...but it was an easy decision to be intentional about it. Every morning we pray together and read our breakfast benediction and every night we pray again and write things that we are thankful for on our chalkboard. It keeps us connected to God, to each other, and helps our boys learn the beauty of rhythms.
*Full disclosure - this does sound beautiful and wonderful but sometimes it doesn't happen at all. Sometimes Asher is screaming, Maverick is banging on the piano and Power Rangers is playing on the iPad but we try really hard to do this every day even though we do have our fallbacks.*
3. Prayer and some quiet time more than just once a day
When 3 pm hits I need an s'mores frappuccino from Starbucks but because they are like 5 million calories a pop and cost about the same amount of money as my groceries for a month that can't happen (although it still totally happens). Someone in my life once told me maybe it's not a physical pick up you need, maybe it's a spiritual one (mind blown). So my phone is set to ring for 1 pm (because technology can be good) and I know that whatever I am doing (within reason) will stop and I get in a quick 5 or 10 minute devotional from one of my apps (this First 5 App found here is great) or some prayer time. Cheesy as it sounds it totally works and although I still want that s' mores frappuccino that literally adds 10lbs per sip I feel more centered and ready to keep going.
p.s. Does anyone have a recipe for a frappuccino made from cauliflower??
4. Turn off your phone y'all!
(Almost) Every day between 3:00pm - 5:30pm I turn my phone completely off like powered down, like off off. For those of you who don't know how to do that then this one is especially for you! This was (and still is) a hard one for me to do rhythmically because sometimes I forget or I need to look something up or one of my boys want something but I really REALLY try to do this every day. How does this bring me closer to God? Well, it removes that distraction and helps me focus on my boys, my family, our supper time and gives my boys the right message of you matter more than anyone. I know what you're saying, what if there is an emergency!!? Well, everything that matters is within the four walls or my home and everything else can wait for 2 hours. It really truly can.
*side note, another great way of taming the phone monster is turning off every single notification so your phone does not buzz or beep. I did this for everything but phone calls and text messages and it really helped me keep it out of my hands!*
just in case you don't know how to turn off your notifications
1. settings
2. notifications
3. click every app
4. switch "allow notifications" to off
5. Worship Music
This one works for me and may not for you but when I listen (and sing along horribly) to worship music God speaks to me. Not like audibly speaks but really quietly and softly. There are usually tears because He says something I really need to hear or maybe there is excitement because He tells me something He wants me to do. For the longest time I thought it was just me hearing things and I would explain to myself how that wasn't God but I read somewhere that one of the best things we can do is assume it is God talking until we know for sure it isn't instead of assuming it isn't God talking until we know for sure it is. Try it. Maybe it will work for you too.
Click here for the current song that's on repeat!
Growing closer to God and working on your spiritual formation isn't a big defining moment or one really great practice. Spiritual formation is making small decisions, taking small steps and being intentional in all the small and simple moments of life. It's the tiny small strokes of the paintbrush that makes a beautiful picture not one big roll of paint across the canvas. Start moving the brush and making small marks in your life. Those simple small strokes will grow into a big beautiful Christ-centered life.