It’s the holidays! 

Can’t wait to sleep past noon and catch up on Netflix? Prefer to pack your calendar to the brim with internships, meeting people, working part-time and preparing for school the next semester?

Whichever one describes you, it’s important know how we can honour God during our holidays.

So, whether you’re a university student with three months of summer break coming up, or a pre-university student looking forward to your school holidays, here are five ways you can make the most of your holidays!

1. Reconnect with God

Have you been consistently spending time in God’s presence during the school term? If not, take your holidays to build your spiritual disciplines and reconnect with God.

If you want to get closer to a friend, wouldn’t you meet him for lunch and talk to him? Similarly, if you want to get closer to God, you need to spend time with Him!

Take this holiday to find out more about your Creator. Find out more about this God who loves you, your Abba Father who cares for you and your Best Friend who longs to be close to you!

The holidays are a great opportunity to be intentional in spending time with Him: Read His Word, worship Him, be in His presence and reflect on His mercies and grace in your life!

We should be intentional in spending time reading God’s Word, worshipping Him and knowing who God is. Set small goals: maybe start with reading His Word for 10 minutes daily. Then slowly increase that amount of time.

Reading His Word shouldn’t be a chore, His Word reveals who God is! As we are faithful in growing our walk, slowly but surely, we will come to build our lives on Christ alone.

2. Join in fellowship with your spiritual community

The holidays are perfect to meet and have fellowship with brothers and sisters-in-Christ! 

As a busy university student, it’s nearly impossible to catch most of my friends and meet them for an extended amount of time during the school term.

This is why I choose to be intentional in meeting all my close friends one-on-one at least once during the holidays — nothing beats heart-to-heart talks with them!

With much of our schedules cleared, this is when we have the luxury to sit down, pour out our heart’s troubles and share what God has been speaking to us.

I cannot emphasise how important community is! How many people around you really know how you’re doing? How often do you meet and pray for each other? 

Jesus already told us that this race of life that we’re running won’t be easy.

That’s one reason He has placed you in your spiritual community to spur one another on towards Him, so take this holiday to build Kingdom friendships around you!

3. Sow seeds of the Gospel

Other than just meeting fellow believers, let’s learn to love our pre-believing friends and meet their needs where we can.

Something I firmly believe in is that we may be the only “Bible” that someone reads; we may be the only bridge our pre-believing friends have to encounter God.

So let’s have fellowship with our cell group and church friends — but let’s also not neglect our pre-believing friends!

We must be salt and light to them and be vessels of God’s love in their lives.

That means being intentional in getting to know them beyond “hi” and “bye”, and showing them Christ’s love.

Ask your tablemate out for lunch! Get to know your acquaintances over an activity! Invite your project groupmate out! Invite your hall friends to church!

Let God use you to sow seeds into the lives of your pre-believing friends, so they can see Him in and through you. 

4. Volunteer

What better way to shine God’s light than to use your time to serve God and His people, especially those who have fallen through the cracks of society?

If God has dropped a cause in your heart, be it for the elderly in your community, teaching underprivileged youths or hanging out with children who have special needs— the holidays are the perfect time to steward that calling!

Use your holidays to shine God’s light and love to the people around you as a vessel of His love and light.

If you don’t know where to begin, here are a few simple suggestions that can get you started.

• Spend time with the elderly: (Methodist Welfare Services, Yong-En Care Centre)
• Serve the underprivileged: (Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home, Willing Hearts)
• Creation care: (Creation Care SG, Waterways Watch Society)

5. Rest in God

Last but not least, the holidays are a time to rest!

As much as our rigorous society in Singapore pushes us to do our best and prepare ourselves for the future, let’s not forget to rest in the Lord!

I used to view rest as a waste of time because I used to think that I could use my time more wisely and study even more in my holidays.

But I realised this wasn’t a healthy mindset, it was instead an unhealthy one that I saw elsewhere in the world.

So, use your holidays to also rest. Do things that you enjoy, knowing that God gave rest and leisure to us as blessings.

Spiritual rest is important too: Spend time in God’s presence, read His Word and enjoy His presence.

Why not take yourself and God out on a date? When I want a special Sabbath with God, I bring my Bible and journal to a café where I just talk to God the whole day and be with Him.

I’m sure you’ll find your own special way to rest with God!

Ultimately, whether you’ve chosen to pick up an internship, a part-time job, to volunteer or just relax during your holidays — do it all for the glory of God.