Spiritual growth is ongoing and lifelong, and all teachers benefit from staying connected to the source of our life, Jesus. As the new school year approaches, consider adding one or two practices that draw you closer to God and toward deeper, more life-giving relationships.

Resources for spiritual growth and renewal are at your fingertips in your teacher manual for Blest Are We Faith in Action or Be My Disciples. You will discover prayer ideas that you can adopt for your own personal enrichment and spiritual growth. Your own family will be blessed by the family enrichment ideas in the take-home pages provided for every chapter. 

Here are some examples of spiritual practices you can easily incorporate into your restful summertime habits. 

Prayer & Gratitude

• Create and pray a special grace before meals. 
• Share one prayer intention for your partner to pray before he sleeps. 
• Say the rosary together at the start of a car trip. 
• Make a running list of what you are thankful for. 
• Sign up for email prompts for daily prayer. 
• Learn about each other’s religion; visit each other’s churches. 
• Create decorations for the current holiday season and display them. 
• Engaged and dating couples, hold hands, and pray evening prayer before going home. 
• Meet friends for a walk at dawn; greet the new day with gratitude.

Service

• Baby-sit a child together for a whole day. 
• Take a teenager to the museum.  
• Serve with a friend or family member at a soup kitchen. 
• Plant and work a garden together with a buddy or child. 
• Throw a party for your friends and do all the serving. 
• Begin to donate a part of your income to a favorite charity. 
• Sponsor a needy child in your community or abroad.
• Clean out your closets and drawers and give good items away. Here is a prayer for Spring Cleaning that works for Summer, too. 

Selflessness

• Give your partner the biggest and best portion of a snack or meal. 
• Serve your body: Eat healthy; take vitamins. 
• Create a budget for your future finances.  
• Accompany a friend to one craft show or fishing trip – any activity that you would rather avoid – and look at it through their eyes.  

Reconciliation

• Practice active listening. Make sure you are hearing what the other is saying and that they are hearing you.
• Identify one strength of your family of origin; forgive one weakness.  
• When you are wrong, say, “I’m sorry; please forgive me.” 
• When you are right, don’t gloat. 

Journaling

• Write letters and email thoughts. 
• Start a photo album for a visual journal or make a video. Why use only words?

About the Author
Dr. Lauri Przybysz specializes in equipping families to live their vocation to be domestic churches and signs of God’s love. Lauri received the Doctor of Ministry from the Catholic University of America, and she has been both a Catholic middle school religion teacher and a faith formation coordinator at the archdiocesan and parish levels. She is the mother of six children and grandmother of 21.

 

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