Unfortunately, Summer is starting to dwindle down with less than a month left for the majority of us. It’s sad, but it’s a good motivator to make sure we are using our time effectively.
Last year, at the beginning of Summer, I wrote a blog post about having a productive Summer and this is along similar lines. However, instead of focusing mainly on activity-based productivity, this is about spiritually-based productivity.
With school being such a stressful and busy time, the Summer is a great and much-needed time to disconnect, unwind, and reset for the upcoming year. As we prepare physically and emotionally for the stressful time, we also need to prepare our souls.
What do I mean by this? Before we go any further, it’s important to clarify our role in school.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus said: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (ESV). Jerusalem, the first specific location He mentioned, was where the disciples lived. Our school or work can be seen as our Jerusalem- it’s what’s familiar to us; where we spend our everyday lives.
As Christians, we are called to proclaim the Gospel in our Jerusalem- in our school. In the same way that we would think about Africa and South America as a mission field (“to the end of the earth”), we should think about our school as our mission field. As a Christian, you are a called missionary every time you step foot from your house (and sometimes as soon as you get out of bed).
Not only is your school a mission field, but it is also a battlefield. In both Ephesians 6 and 2 Corinthians 10, Paul talks about our Spiritual warfare with “the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
This means that on top of academics, you are called to be a missionary displaying and sharing Christ while being a warrior fighting “cosmic powers” and “spiritual forces.” Not only that, you aren’t just called to do this at school (though, that is the main focus of this article), but everywhere you are– whenever that may be!
All of this can become very draining. It’s important to take time to rest from time to time. In fact, in Genesis 2, God gave us an example to rest when He rested on the seventh day of creation. While this is not explicitly a Sabbath rest, the similarities of the example are present.
There is an important distinction here, though. This is not the same kind of rest in the sense that we stop battling and sharing the Gospel over the Summer. This rest is a time of “less busyness” where we can really dive into the Scriptures without the stresses of school.
It’s similar to a career missionary who travels and lives overseas evangelizing. When she’s at her place of mission (Asia, Africa, etc.), everything she does is done with the mindset of sharing the Gospel. When she’s Stateside, she still has this mindset, but there is a different way of operating. The main focus is usually preparing to go back into her mission field.
This is what our Summer can be to us: a time to step back and focus more on our Spiritual life and less on our school. We get to prepare to go back into the mission field and share our faith, living as a model of Christ.
Think of it in terms of an athlete’s off-season: just because they aren’t playing games doesn’t mean they aren’t improving. On the contrary, it’s a time to work out and perfect your game so that you are that much better next season. You watch film and see where you messed up, identifying where and how you can improve. When the season rolls back around, you’ve had the needed rest which allows you to focus in better, but you’ve also grown stronger and developed skill.
That’s what Summer is to Christian students: an off-season. Yes, we still have to battle because the enemy is always lurking and, yes, we are called to evangelize because Jesus didn’t stop at commanding us to be His witnesses in Judea, but it’s still a time of rest. A time to grow without the distraction of school. A time to refocus. A time to honestly look in the mirror without the constant outside influence.
With school comes stress and busyness and distractions and obstacles that are going to really challenge us. That’s why we need to take the free time we have now to dial in, start creating good habits, and ask God for His guidance and direction in the school year so that we can face these challenges on surer ground.
Are you taking advantage of this off-season by preparing for this school year? It’s not too late if you haven’t already started, but your opportunity is slipping away all too quickly.