My daughter and her family live in China. They have been studying the difficult Mandarin language for almost three years and are quite fluent now. Which amazes me because when we visit them I am astounded at how anyone could learn such a beautiful, yet complex, language.

Recently I was reading about the phrase ling xiu. In Chinese characters the phrase looks like this:

灵修

and together they mean a Christian’s devotional time. I found it interesting that the two characters have different meanings when they are used separately. Ling means “spirit” or “soul.” Xiu means “to repair.” So fitting don’t you think? Our devotional time with God is our spirit repair time!

Spirit repair.

How desperately I need this every day. The world shreds my soul. Stress tears at the seams. Worry tries to rip my heart apart. And when I try to mend it on my own, the rips just become bigger.

But when I sit in God’s presence and let His Word stitch me back up again, I feel whole. When His Spirit mends the holes my soul is once again intact.

Sometimes we think of our devotional time as duty or a dusty routine. But what if we saw it as our spirit repair time?

Next step: Take time to practice ling xiu or spirit repair time every day. God is waiting to heal your heart.