Go to university with disciplines and habits that will serve you and start them today.
This is how to make the most of your time: You need disciplines and habits that serve you in becoming the person your future self will thank you for. So make some decisions or rules for yourself. Go to bed at a set time (and sensible time) so that you can get up and make the most of the day. Start a habit of daily spiritual practice – bible reading, silence and reflection, prayer and worship. If you need a helping hand (and most of us do) Lectio 365 is a great place to start. These habits won’t just set you up for the university years, they will lead to a fruitful and fulfilling life. Here are three areas of discipline to take with you into university life.
Disciplines of Communion
These are the personal areas in our journey with God, they include the personal devotions above as well as disciplines that help us live well. Consider what you consume and where you go for comfort. Media and food can often be the places we turn when our soul craves intimacy with our Father in Heaven. Fasting food and abstaining from tech for certain hours of the day and week will help keep us centred and connected.
Disciplines of Community
These are the shared areas in our journey with others. They include how we welcome, demonstrate hospitality, listen and ask questions and share our lives with others. Consider how you journey with others and the part you play in building community. In journeying deeply with other people we find tremendous freedom in being with friends where we can be fearlessly honest, daringly vulnerable and ruthlessly accountable.
Disciplines of Commission
These are the embodied areas in our journey as a disciple. They are the acting out of the commands Jesus gives and they are our participation in his mission to the world. They force us to consider where we give ourselves away so we don’t become so disciplined and boundaried as to resist every inconvenience and aspect that doesn’t fit with our agenda. On the contrary a disciplined life is ready at any moment to join in with what God is doing.
These include acts of service, compassion, giving of time, and money. Our readiness to witness and share our faith, and being prepared to be disrupted and inconvenienced for the sake of the Gospel.
For more practical ideas and habits check out the common rule.
Rich Wilson is movement leader of Fusion. He has recently written ‘A Call Less Ordinary’ to help students discover their calling in God and navigate the next steps.
