Most days I start with a quiet time reading Scripture, praying, journaling—but then all the crazy happens: packing backpacks to shuttle the youngest kids off to school, start homeschooling my oldest, throwing bacon in the air fryer for a quick breakfast before checking off work and home to-do lists.
I’m sure your morning can feel just as full. It’s easy for us to make it to lunch without being mindful of God’s presence—to be caught up in the tangible, that we disconnect from the fuller reality of our souls.
But we are whole beings—body and soul, how variably defined. And whole living happens when we experience moments in fullness of being.
Fullness of being starts when we learn to walk with Jesus in all the moments, beyond the devotional chair and warm coffee mug. To walk with Jesus as we type, call, cook, even mediate squabbles between family members.
There is one practice that is helping me learn to dwell with God in all the moments—and I think it can help you as well.
Practicing Continual God-Awareness
The Apostle Paul exhorted his friends in Thessalonica to pray continually. If this is something that is a possibility, then maybe prayer happens in more ways than typically described.
A while ago I discovered the practice of breath prayer. And I started experimenting by simply talking to God as I breathe while I walk—or fold laundry—or help my child learn long division.
Sometimes I breathe a short scripture or pray a “help me Jesus” call. But this breath prayer practice slowly transformed into simply an openness to God’s presence and His spirit moment-by-moment.
And I found myself asking the Spirit to guide me, even in what task to perform next. Make the phone call? Answer the email? Boot the laundry?
Breath prayer opened my soul to learning to walk with God in every day living.
And then—I sense the Spirit’s presence more loudly in my soul, when I need wisdom or self control (like when I’m about to flip the lid on my child for disobeying me for the 5th time).
Breath prayer is teaching me how to walk with Jesus in every day living—to dwell—to obey—to hear the Spirit’s voice in the whisper of HIs prodding in my soul. And I’m starting to believe that maybe breath prayer is part of the Paul meant when he encouraged his friends to pray continually.
Reflection:
Have you tried practicing breath prayer? If so, how’s it forming you? If not, maybe you can practice where ever your schedule takes you today.
