A Spiritual Revival for Nayrouz
The beginning of the school year -- what was supposed to be the return to structure and normalcy -- has also turned into a massively tense transition in my life.I have been weepy. I have been stressed. I have been struggling to sidestep burnout.Maybe you've had days (or weeks) like that. When you just felt so stretched--physically, psychologically, and emotionally.That's how I am feeling right now. All around the waves are raging, straight ahead there's a crisis, and, with prayers and tears and supplication, I'm trying to turn the boat to avoid it.Though Christ warns us that sufficient for the day is its own trouble, the world isn't designed that way anymore. Not only must we face our own troubles each day, but we face the ever more painful news of war, earthquakes, and terror attacks across the globe. We are bombarded with imagery and video that exceed the limits of our hearts. We carry not just the strain of our own households but those of households across the planet.How can we keep our heads above water?
What's the secret?
The secret lies in the strength of our spiritual life.The Church delineates seasons for us for renewal. Each fast, for example, is a chance to set new goals and reach to God just as He reaches over to us.Nayrouz too--the Coptic New Year--is a special time of renewal, a time of fortifying our spiritual life to tackle the obstacles ahead.Here in the North-West, Nayrouz (which falls on September 11) coincides with getting back into the rhythm of school or university. It coincides with the change of the season: the air begins to cool; the sun begins to dim. We can feel the relief from the summer and just as keenly our own mortality, the fleetingness of the green season and the beginning of the cold chill.
Nayrouz is an opportunity
Nayrouz. The beginning of the Coptic Year. A perfect time to examine and self-evaluate four important aspects of our spiritual life: Prayer, Worship, Scripture Reading, and Confession.Like a compass helps point you in the right direction, your spiritual canon--the habits of prayer, worship, scripture reading, and confession--keep you headed towards the narrow gate. And checking in on yourself regularly is the only way to stay on track.Prayer: How often and for how long do you pray? Do you include metanoias?Worship: How often do you attend Divine Liturgy and take Communion?Scripture Reading: How often do you sit quietly with Scripture and hear the voice of God?Confession:When was the last time you repented of your sins and confessed before your father of confession?Taking the time to look back over your own spiritual canon (and to see where you are struggling) can help you avoid the point of crisis. Your daily canon reminds you that God is in control, that He can be trusted, and that everything is going to be okay (really, it is).
Set new goals
Nayrouz is also the perfect time to set one or two new goals for your spiritual life and create a plan for how to achieve them. See this opportunity for what it is -- a New Year's Day reboot halfway through the year!Take a few moments before September 11 to assess your spiritual canon and to make decisions about where and how you will grow your spiritual life.
Free PDF!
And if you need some tools to help you do that, I have a great downloadable you can get by opting in [thrive_2step id='2870']here[/thrive_2step]. This PDF is two parts -- the first helps you evaluate your current habits and the second is to help you set and maintain new ones.I am planning to use this exact tool with my high school pre-servants class to get them to take ownership of their spiritual lives. I also highly recommend printing and filling [thrive_2step id='2870']this[/thrive_2step] out every three months or so (quarterly). Take it just as seriously as you would an employee evaluation at work. Except you get to be the boss of you and the benefits are out of this world (literally! haha).God gives us a fresh start every morning. Every dawn is its own little life, a new opportunity to start over, to begin anew. But we all know that life and busy-ness get in the way of that. It's hard to find that spirit when everything around us is chaotic. So it's doubly important to set aside time to have our own spiritual revival, to evaluate, and to plan our growth.Again, if you'd like the Quarterly Self-Evaluation and Spiritual Goal-Setting pdf, it's available [thrive_2step id='2870']here[/thrive_2step].