Did you know that summer is a time of year that you’re more likely to skip your spiritual practices? If you stop to think about it for a second, summer is wild. For some reason, it also feels high stakes. You’ve got all the camps for kids, you’re still trying to work, and before you know it, Walmart is busting out the back to school supplies sections in the store. Before you know it, God just took a backseat in your mind. Whoopsie! This is why I’m giving you 6 tips to avoid the spiritual summer slump. This blog post is broken down into two podcast episodes on the Busy Christian Mom podcast. These two episodes are part of the Spiritual Spring Training mini series episodes 71-77.
CLICK PLAY TO LISTEN EP 75 (Part 1)
CLICK PLAY TO LISTEN EP 76 (Part 2)
Part 1: Episode 75
But Brooke, it’s still May. Yes, girl. The reason I know that is because my magnetic kitchen calendar tells me so (shout out episode 73). I also know that Maycember is crazytown, and I need these tips going into summer rather than it being summer and me going, “Well where in the world did the time go?! I haven’t read my Bible at all! What day is it again?” I know if I’m feeling it, you are too. This is why hearing these 6 tips to avoid the spiritual summer slump is so important to have in your brain now (and also a good idea to relisten to these in a month too). Trust me on the relisten. Brains remembers better with repetition.
I was recently looking at the newly revised end of year school activity calendars for my kids and their campuses. Y’all…there’s something every week, sometimes multiple times a week during the day and/or evening.
I’ve got field day for two of my kids on one campus, and then the date changed to a day that I volunteered at that same exact time to go on a field trip with one of my other kids. Double book Brooke is what I call me when the schedule is hard to do with our zone defense parenting and our three kids are in three different places at the same time. God help us.
Are you already feeling overwhelmed and the kids haven’t even gotten out for summer yet? If you’re feeling some type of way right now, listen to episode 73, and then come back here.
Forget the frazzle at the end of this spring season. The number one way to get rid of the overwhelm, mental stress, and frenetic mindset is to keep God elevated above everything else. Listen, we all know that sounds easy, hint: because it is when we prioritize it. Sometimes we find ourselves in a position where it’s hard to actually put God first. This is why these 3 tips to avoid spiritual summer slump will greatly increase your odds of sticking with spending time with Jesus.
Tip #1 Go to Church Every Opportunity this Summer
Tip #1 to avoid the spiritual summer slump: Make a commitment as a family to go to church every single Sunday you have the opportunity to. “But Wait, Brooke! We’re trying to squeeze in multiple vacations or sports tournaments!” I hear you. It’s us too. Thank God for online services. Anytime we can’t make it physically to church, we pull up our church’s YouTube channel and live stream (or rewatch later).
The point is, make a commitment to go to church every single Sunday this summer (physically or online). Mark those calendars now, set reminders, and stick to being disciplined and showing up. If your church doesn’t have an online presence, CLICK HERE to go to ours and watch any of their sermons. If you can watch Netflix every day, you can surely watch one sermon. You can do it! Better yet, don’t let yourself click on Netflix until you’ve watched a sermon. Any time invested in your relationship with God is a good time and has eternal returns.
Tip #2 Take, Trash, Tweak Method
Tip #2 to avoid the spiritual summer slump is the take, trash, tweak method. Reflect back through the spring and even back through the previous school year. Look through the lens of my Read Pray Talk Tell method. Reading your Bible, praying regularly, talking in Christian community, and telling others about Jesus. With that particular spiritual growth lens, ask yourself the following questions:
- What worked well when it came to my spiritual walk?
- What did not work well when it came to my spiritual walk?
- What did I like in theory, but needs some adjusting when it came to my spiritual walk?
This is where you either take it and continue with it, trash it because it didn’t work, or tweak it because it may work better done a little differently. Here are three examples for me with my take, trash, tweak:
- Take: I’m definitely keeping the combo of the Bible Recap and Bible study in a group
- Trash: I’m letting go of studying my Bible at the kitchen table (I’ll explain in the tweak)
- Tweak: I’m going back to Bible study in the car or at track practice because I’ll be commuting more and spectating more.
Tip #3 Play Your Day
Tip #3 to avoid the spiritual summer slump is to play your day. You’re going to think through your take, trash, tweak, and you’ll roll the film tape to see how it’s going to actually shake out. Sometimes we’ve got a great idea, but then when we think it through by playing our day, we can find holes in our logic. When we find these holes, take it back up to tweaking, and hit replay with the changes.
This can look like: You’ve decided you’re going to listen to the DAB (Daily Audio Bible) when you’re taking the kids to school. So you begin to play your day, and you realize that while you have your kids in the car, you’d rather be maximizing the car conversation with them. So let’s take that back to tweaking. While I’m driving the kids to school, I can ask them spiritually directed questions, sing worship songs with them, or practice memory verses.
That’s still an excellent use of your time, so now we need to find time to read our Bible. Can you listen after you drop them off? Yes? Let’s replay the day and see how that works. Repeat and trial and error. Flexibility is key! What works one day, may not on another. Use the take, trash, tweak method as much as needed to play your day.
Episode 75 Recap
That wraps up episode 75: Part one of 6 Tips to Avoid the Spiritual Summer Slump. Remember, part two is coming next week, so be sure to subscribe to the Busy Christian Mom podcast so the show automatically comes to you. Let’s walk through the three tips one more time:
- Tip #1 Go to Church Every Opportunity in the Summer
- Tip #2 Take, Trash, Tweak Method
- Tip #3 Play Your Day
Tune in next week for part two of the 6 tips to avoid the spiritual summer slump, which is in the Spiritual Spring Training mini series. I am praying for you and your families as you go into this summer. I can’t wait to hear about how this episode has worked for you. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself for this forethought when you’ve got God in forefront of your mind.
Links from the Show
- EP 73: 4 Ways to Live Out Your Faith This May
- Etsy Shop: Busy Christian Mom
- Valleys Bible study by Kat Armstrong
- Online Church! Community Life Church
- 40 Day Prayer Challenge
- Busy Christian Mom Podcast (Apple Podcasts)
- Pinterest: Brooke Collier BCM
- Busy Christian Mom Instagram
CLICK PLAY TO LISTEN EP 75 (Part 1)
CLICK PLAY TO LISTEN EP 76 (Part 2)
Part 2: Episode 76
Welcome to part two of the 6 tips to avoid the spiritual summer slump. If you’re just joining us, go back one episode, and then tune back in here. We are one week closer to graduation, kinder class parties, and finishing up spring sports. What better way to book end the spring season than making sure you keep up your good spiritual habits?
Stepping into summer is an absolute whirlwind of sports, swimsuits, and sunburns. This is why I’m giving you 6 tips to avoid the spiritual summer slump. This blog post is broken down into two podcast episodes on the Busy Christian Mom podcast. These two episodes are part of the Spiritual Spring Training mini series episodes 71-77.
We’re going to piggyback off of last week’s episode to help ensure that you’re set up for success. Based off of statical odds, and personal experience in Summers, I know that it’s easy to slip away from spiritual disciplines. I’ve been there, and I’ve found a way out of the slump. Avoid the spiritual summer slump with me! In episode 75 we discussed the first three of the six tips. Be sure to go back one episode to get further details:
- Tip #1 Go to Church Every Opportunity this summer
- Tip #2 Take, Trash, Tweak Method
- Tip #3 Play Your Day
Now that you’ve had a week to sort out tips #1-3, let’s challenge ourselves a bit more. Don’t worry! These steps will be super simple, and set you up for success this Summer.
Tip #4 Tune in Each Monday in June and July
- Have scripture read over you
- Have someone who cares about you (that’s me!) pray over you
- Have time for independent, scripture focused time
There are nine Mondays this summer. Mondays also happen to be the days I drop new podcast episodes. These upcoming summer Mondays, I’ll be teaching you scripture memorization, and you’ll walk into your next back to school season with Bible verses engrained into your brain.
Tip #4 from this week goes nicely with Tip #1 from last week. When you can commit to going to church every opportunity you can this summer, plus memorizing scripture each week (beginning Mondays), it’ll be easier for you to be more consistent in your spiritual growth during the summer season.
The easiest way to make sure you tune in, is to SUBSCRIBE to the Busy Christian Mom podcast on whatever podcatcher you prefer. The BCM podcast is on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, Google, YouTube, and virtually everywhere. Search Busy Christian Mom podcast, click the show, and hit SUBSCRIBE. The episodes will automatically come to your phone every Monday.
You can also join my email list. All the heart eyes for those already on the list! Shout out to you, BCM Insiders! I email you weekly about the show, plus you always get the inside scoop of what I’m working on for you! Plus, I love me a good gif, so you’ll get to experience that side of me too. All you have to do is head to brookecollier.com (you’re on the site now). Fill in your email where prompted and check your inbox (or junk/spam). This link is also in the show notes. I’ve made it as easy as possible to get on the email list.
Tip #5 Bring a Friend
Life is better with good, Christian friends! There’s a ton of scripture to back that up, and that’s for another episode. If you want to have a successful “zero slump” summer, having someone come alongside you exponentially increases your odds for success. Let me read you one of my favorite scriptures about companionship:
Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Whether it’s one person who loves Jesus, or your life group people…make a plan to get together once a week. Our church has built in childcare on Sunday nights, and if Sundays don’t work, they’ll cover the cost of the sitter. Wow! Ask your church if they have something life this, and make it work.
Another suggestion that my friend Emily does out in Nashville, the guys meet one week, and the girls meet the next. This gives them the chance to meet every other week. Lookie there, taking turns isn’t just for kids, huh?
Brainstorm, find a way, make it work. If you’re not sure what to do pray about it! Even if it means you bring Starbucks over to your bestie’s house while the kids run around and y’all can have intermittently interrupted conversation. Remember, some intentional minutes are better than no attempt.
Tip #6 Play Your Week
Just like with Tip #3 from last week, “play your day”, you now have the chance to play your week. Take all 6 of these tips and put them together in a way that works for you for the next couple months. Here’s what your week may look like with the combination of these 6 tips:
- Sunday: go to church (yay free childcare!)
- Monday: listen to the newest episode of the Bust Christian Mom podcast
- Tuesday: attend Bible study at your local church (yay free childcare!)
- Wednesday: practice your scripture memorization
- Thursday: practice your scripture memorization
- Friday: Coffee + Jesus talk with your bestie (probably no childcare, but maybe the kids won’t burn the house down)
- Saturday: practice your scripture memorization
It doesn’t have to work forever, and flexibility is important. Having some attempt at a plan, is once again, better than no attempt at all. This goes back to praying and asking God to help you out on this one. If He can part the seas, He can surely help you get ten uninterrupted minutes listening to next week’s episode to get some scripture spoken over you. Surely He can help you find an online sermon (see last week). Certainly He can give you a few minutes to chat with a friend about spiritual growth. God is Team Sanctification, so ask for help.
Episode 76 Recap
That wraps up episode 76: 3 MORE Tips to Avoid the Spiritual Summer Slump. Let’s walk through all six tips from both episode 75 and 76 one more time:
- Tip #1 Go to Church Every Opportunity in the Summer
- Tip #2 Take, Trash, Tweak Method
- Tip #3 Play Your Day
- Tip #4 Tune in Each Monday this summer
- Tip #5 Bring a Friend
- Tip #6 Play Your Week
Hooray! Now you have all 6 tips to avoid the spiritual summer slump. I wanted to give these to you ahead of the summer so that you waltz into the season prepared and equipped. This is all part of the Spiritual Spring Training Mini Series which is episodes 71-77. Tune in next week to hear episode 77, the home stretch of this mini series! Remember to subscribe to the Busy Christian Mom podcast wherever you get your shows, and I will automatically appear on your phone on Monday. See you then!
Links From the Show
- EP 73: 4 Ways to Live Out Your Faith This May
- Etsy Shop: Busy Christian Mom
- 40 Day Prayer Challenge
- Busy Christian Mom Podcast (Apple Podcasts)
- Pinterest: Brooke Collier BCM
- Busy Christian Mom Instagram
