A Spiritual Routine

I think constantly about spiritual routines and am so intrigued by how other’s make time in their daily lives for connecting with God. Below is a bit more about how I spend my day connecting with God. I’d love to feature more posts like this from folks of all walks of faith.

Upon Waking
When I wake up, I use some variation of greeting. Usually, it’s something simple like,

“God, I’m here.”

Just a hello, a Good Morning, and a pledge that His will be done on that day.

Then I go to get ready before the house wakes up. Sometimes, I’ll get ready in silence. Other times, I’ll listen to a podcast, or music. Withdrawing from all forms of stimulation is important to me, but I’ve learned not to be a zealot about it. You can sit in silence all day and be a real jerk, what I try to do instead is find meaningful moments to be quiet with God, but also to engage with him throughout the day.

Prayers
After my workout, I sit and take five deep, long breaths. Then I mentally wrap myself into what God has planned for me that day (or what I know of, at least!). If I’m meeting with someone, I’ll focus on that person; what they might need from me, etc. I also think of my family, and how I can best help them. This isn’t a stressful time, it’s a preparation, like washing your hands.

Devotions
I use “Living the Christian Year” by Bobby Gross after my prayers. Today’s reading was in Acts, focusing on how Paul connected with the Stoics and others in Athens. I enjoy reading about Paul and this timeframe is one of my favorites. What I like about the devotional is it marks readings with the calendar year; though this morning I saw how far we are into summer and it made me a little sad. But then again, fun things always await, yes?

Daily Grind
Once the day starts, I try to find little moments to connect. I used to listen to music when I walk, but now I try to focus instead on the people, nature, etc. around it. It’s made quite a difference in reflections of all kinds. Very calming, as a matter of fact. Again, before any meeting I have with someone I try to spend a few minutes in spiritual preparation. I don’t always make time, but when I do I sense the difference.

Conversations
I have a few friends who I can speak to regularly about faith and religion. One is my spiritual mama, who shares this blog. One I speak to at work every week on Monday. I really love these moments of fellowship, and I tend to schedule them to make sure they are frequent. It’s so important to hear and share what’s going on, and I often find we are struggling with the same things during the same time. There is something to be said for fellowship.

End of Days
Whenever I enter my house, I (try) to drop everything I’m doing, hit the floor and say a prayer of gratitude. I’ll take the five breaths again before attacking what needs to be done around the house. We do the family meal, and my husband usually says grace. I just realized I don’t pray with my baby before she goes to bed, I need to add that! At night I’ll take a bath and use that time for reflection. My night devotional is “Streams of the Desert” which I enjoy. I’ll write a little statement, bullet-journal style, after every day. Then it’s usually the Lord’s Prayer and then bed!

So that’s my routine at the moment. I love switching it up, and being inspired by other folks and their journeys. Please share your routine in the comments!