For the Weary: Two Simple tools to Connect with God

Mornings haven’t always been my favorite. But crisp cool air has always been a favorite of mine. In high school, my mom would drag me out of bed to go for a five a.m. run. even if it was twenty degrees. Her cutoff wasn’t until seventeen degrees. We would bundle up and move our bodies in a steady jog, my mom and her running friend’s conversations carrying us the three miles back to our doorstep.

Now I rather love mornings. This particular late January morning the crisp air and the morning were kissing each other. I walked up the gravel pathway around the reservoir behind our apartment. It was just as the sky was starting to turn pink from the sun peeking up over the horizon behind the clouds.

I thought- this isn’t for exercise, it’s just to enjoy the morning. Enjoy the morning-as simple as the phrase sounds, it captured my motive well for leaving our cozy apartment-my husband on the couch reading, and the heat of the fire to jump the iron gate of our back porch and brave the cold.

I’ve always enjoyed chasing sunsets with an evening run, but there aren’t many times I have intentionally met the sunrise. Not many mornings have I met the sunrise just to enjoy it. In the past, it’s merely been for exercise.  The sunrise was an extra blessing at the end of our run, right before the warmth that the front door ushered me back into. Enjoying the morning wasn’t my only motivation, though. I also went to meet with God.

There is something about four walls and my bottom in a chair that often times keeps me from talking to God. My mind goes in all directions and its hard to keep my thoughts as still as my body is. But when my legs are moving, my mind moves less. My eyes are looking to the sky, feet are hitting the gravel, and my heart is ready to listen. Even if all I hear is silence.

I started using a prayer notebook on January first. It has pages for prayers: some for the country, some for the community, some for friends, family, my marriage, and a few for myself too. It’s pink like the sun behind the clouds this morning, pink like the memories of my friend, Lauren, pink like the soft peonies from our wedding bouquet. It has a pink canvas cover, gold letters, and a gold binding. It fits so perfectly grasped in my hand and clutched to my stomach on an any-time-of-day-walk.

January, February, and March’s prayers have been filled with requests from friends and family, dreams for myself, and for Heath and I’s life together. It’s filled with truth that I want to remind myself and to pray for others.

When I breathe in the crisp cold air, I am breathing in and out those prayers. Again and again, prayer is the way God reminds me to abide in Him. It’s an active conversation- talking to Him in the morning, and watching for Him throughout the day, watching for His answers or merely just the gift of His presence throughout the day.

Lately, I’m weary. And a lot of times I don’t make time to connect with God. I admit I miss out on Him more days than I find Him. But this little humble notebook and a simple walk outside are helping slowly bring me back.

Friend, when I ask how I can pray for you, you’re written inside my little pink notebook. You’re helping me to experience God more deeply every day and I’m walking alongside you as you look for His answers and presence in your life too, no matter the distance between us.

Will you join me?

1-Grab a simple notebook (or this lovely one like mine from Val Marie Paper) 

2-Take a walk, and drink in the peace God offers through His presence- It’s like nothing else in this world 

If not these simple tools, what steps do you take to daily connect with God? I would love to hear from you!