Somehow it’s easier to meet Jesus in the quiet of the early morning. I’ve found this to be particularly true for me over the last month.
Thanks to COVID closing/restricting gyms and my desire to escape the Texas summer heat, I recently switched my usual exercise routine from lunchtime to early mornings. For the last couple months, I have been rising at 5:30 am and walking 2 miles around my neighborhood. It’s still dark out, but oh, so peaceful. I smile at the moon and stars shining in the sky and relish the cool of the morning air. And my soul never fails to be drawn into the throne room of God.
These 30 minute walks have become precious, uninterrupted prayer time. Time of communion with the Lord. Time I don’t want to forfeit when the weather starts to turn cold. I feel closer to God during these walks than at any other time of the day. Because we are alone together. Minimal distractions. Just quiet and stillness of soul.
Sometimes my prayers drift into inspiration sessions, when God gives me an idea for the story I’m working on or a way to minister to a person I know. In fact, I had no idea what I would write in this week’s blog post, so I prayed about that, and God led me here.
A few weeks ago I started reading a book called Women Who Move Mountains: Praying with confidence, boldness, and grace by Sue Detweiler. I only read a couple pages a day with my breakfast, so I’m not very deep into the book, but as I read this morning, this passage jumped off the page and straight into my soul:
“Most important, prayer is about knowing God intimately. It is about struggling to give birth to God’s purposes. And it is about embracing the sweet presence of God and allowing the wind of His Spirit to blow freely.”
Isn’t that beautiful? Too often I get drawn into the trap of thinking that prayer is all about asking God for things. Good things. Spiritual things. Salvation things. And that is definitely a part. The Bible teaches us to make our requests known to him. But I think there is a deeper purpose at play.
God wants us to come to him with our requests because he wants us to come to him. Period. To spend time with him. To sit in his lap and simply be with him. No agenda. No hurry to get the dutiful visit done so we can get on with our lives. Just be still and be present with him. I’m so guilty of rushing through life and missing these opportunities. I think that is why my soul has been clinging to these early morning prayer walks. They are drawing me into deeper relationship with Jesus.
When do you feel closest to God?
What daily habits bring you into God’s presence?
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I thought I was the only one that my daily walks was my God time ❤️ Thank you for putting my thoughts into words. ❤️
I love that we have this in common, Marti. 🙂
“No hurry to get the dutiful visit done so we can get on with our lives.”
Loved that. Reminds me so much that prayer is not a duty, but a relationship. So much truth in one sentence!
Thanks, Anna. I’m still learning as I journey. 🙂
This is something I need to work on. I rush about my days just trying to fit everything in that needs to be done, and all too often I let that most important thing of all fall through to the bottom of the list. Thanks for reminding me how important it is to just be with God and nurture that relationship.
I have fallen into that pattern many times, too, Christy. Between the job, kids, writing, and everything else that gets piled on my plate, the hectic pace can override our good intentions. I’ve found that inviting God into the busyness helps. Short “thank you” prayers as I’m walking from one place to another, quick pleas for guidance as I’m working on a project, anything that brings Him to my conscious awareness throughout the day and nurtures the relationship is a blessing.