5 Unconventional Spiritual Practices for Your Soul
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About this ebook
Most of the practices I suggest in this little book aren’t your standard spiritual disciplines. You won’t find me talking about lectio divina, contemplative prayer, or fasting, or the Sabbath (at least overtly – though you will see threads of these traditional spiritual disciplines here).
Instead, these are what I call unconventional spiritual practices – ordinary habits and routines that I’ve transformed into spiritual disciplines. I hope you’ll see that while these practices aren’t traditional, they can be extraordinarily effective in drawing you closer to God, which is, in the end, the essence and purpose of a spiritual discipline.
Michelle DeRusha
A Massachusetts native, Michelle DeRusha moved to Nebraska in 2001, where she discovered the Great Plains, grasshoppers the size of Cornish hens . . . and God. She is the author of four print books: 50 Women Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Heroines of the Faith; Katharina and Martin Luther: The Radical Marriage of a Runaway Nun and a Renegade Monk; and Spiritual Misfit: A Memoir of Uneasy Faith. Her newest book, True You: Letting Go of Your False Self to Uncover the Person God Created (releasing in January 2019), guides readers on a journey beyond the striving, noise, and busyness of their lives toward uncovering their true selves. Michelle writes about learning to listen to your soul at www.MichelleDeRusha.com. She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, with her husband, their two boys, and their Corgi-beagle.
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5 Unconventional Spiritual Practices for Your Soul - Michelle DeRusha
Introduction
Several months ago I stumbled on an unconventional but effective remedy for writer’s block. I’d been feeling frustrated with my work, at a loss for what to write about on my blog, and uninspired by my current freelance editing project. But instead of doing what I typically do when I’m stuck — mindlessly scroll through Facebook and Instagram (sound familiar?) — I stepped outside.
I donned my gardening gloves and tackled one of the raised beds, which was choked with a jumble of dead grass, desiccated chestnut leaves, and weeds. The chore took me only 20 minutes or so, but when the bed was clean of debris, and I’d shucked my gloves, washed my hands and sat down at my desk again, I found not only that I had something to write about, I also felt reinvigorated and refreshed in a way I never would have, had I stayed seated, mindlessly scrolling through my frustration.
The lesson, which can be applied to our spiritual lives as well as our creative lives, is this: When you’re stuck, change your routine.
A few months ago I found myself mired in a spiritual rut. My standard spiritual discipline is morning Bible reading, and it’s something I’ve done pretty regularly, ever since I found my way back to God and faith several years ago. After years of faithfully practicing