I realize I’ve been trained to do this. And only recently did I figure this out.
Twenty years ago when I was in the tenth grade, my dad the youth worker, as a result of his own personal spiritual journey, began a series of unconventional youth retreats based around the spiritual disciplines. They were for us, high schoolers, and they were different.
The polar opposite of typical youth group gatherings where someone had to stuff as many marshmallows in their mouth at the same time, these retreats focused on getting young people to spend directed time alone with God in scripture meditation, in the study of nature and scripture in silence and solitude and in prayer.
And it worked. Actually God worked.
I went twice a year from the time I was 15 until I was 25 and I taught some of the sessions.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that these beautiful, regular times away were training my mind to see the sacred in the simple and to look behind the surface to see the more important truth in something that is so mundane.
About a year ago I figured out that my blog posts rest heavily on the spiritual discipline of study: looking at a piece of scripture, or in my case normal life, and figure out what I should learn from it. And I never made the connection until then that I’ve been conditioned to learn this way as a result of my experiences as a young person.
I’m not talking about learning from the big things: deaths or marriage problems or schisms in relationships. We should be learning from the life-shattering things. But I’m learning from the way the dog pulls the leash when she walks and the speed at which my youngest skips into preschool in the mornings.
I’m learning from those little, boring things.
Do you want to do it too?
Watch — Watch the world around you. Take mental note of the beautiful and the ugly, the difficult and the easy. Look at your children, look at your own feet as you walk down the sidewalk, look at the simple world that makes up your personal universe. You must watch and train yourself to be observant of the life that goes on around you.
Ask — Ask God to teach you something from what you are watching. Ask Him to show you His truth in the simplicity of your baby falling asleep for a nap. And ask yourself the same question. Maybe you’ve learned this lesson/truth before and you need to be reminded.
Listen — And then listen. Listen to God when He speaks to you. And if you can’t hear, get rid of the distractions like music and television and your phone. Take 10 minutes to yourself and ask God to speak to you again and then listen to what He speaks to you. Journal it if you have to, but open your ears.
That’s the simple formula.
And I’m learning to love the simple, boring things much more than I love the amazing.
Have you learned something sacred from the simple lately?
sarah,
i really, REALLY love this. i’m definitely going to implement this into my life.
i have noticed, for example in yesterday’s post, that you are able to do this. i grew up in ministry, but always anticipated the traumatic. my counselor told me that by the time i was 25, i had been through more than most people experience in a lifetime.
i know how to see god, like you say, in the life-shattering but have to look harder for him in the daily. sobriety has taught me to appreciate the daily, but i don’t always find god in the little moments.
really, sarah, thank you so much for offering this tool.
p.s. your dad sounds awesome.
xo
I search for the little things in life, but i learned this lesson the hard way. When my daughter passed away it was the little things i really missed. The way she looked when she woke, the little giggle when a cheeky thought crossed her mind. I tell everyone i know to apperciate the gift God has given us all in the little things. xxx
i was told years ago to look for Gods finger prints through my day and his whisper. It is so true. Gods work is all around us and he can use anything to get our hearts if we seek him.
I have been seeing God a lot lately in my house, a refelection of my own heart. the way I try to hid the mess(ugly sin) and make sure the rooms with the most people are presentable.(putting my best face on for people)
God has been showing me like the inner sanctions of my home he is always in the business of a clean sweep of my heart, and I am so thankful to let my mess be a lot more evident.
Sarah – this reminds me of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Whenever she observed something about Jesus – either ordinary or exceptional, she “pondered it in her heart”. A very good discipline. Thank you for this excellent reminder and glimpse into how you do what you do. We are all benefiting from God’s quiet whispers to your heart.
Debi
Thank you Sarah for this wonderful reminder that God is everywhere we just have to notice it.
Slowing down and observing is the first step to a new understanding for us. HE said… “BE still and know that I am God”… it was for us to quiet our hearts and listen.
Your encouragement was a wonderful good morning message.
thank you
This is a great post Sarah! Thank you.
Sacred from the simple. This is awesome. Can you hear me saying YES! to my computer screen! Like really loud? Haha! My mom’s example showed me to see God in everything, big and small…in the course of organic moments, I learned about tithing from a pack of starburst and forgiveness from a chalk board.
Reminds me of the power of God’s word to us, be it written or whispered directly to our heart:
“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.”
Psalm 19
Watch. Ask. Listen. LOVE IT!
Oh yes. I want to watch, to ask, and to listen very much. I feel like I ask a lot. I really need to work on listening; with my heart and ears.
WOW again…
listening to Jesus…listening FOR Him to show up makes SO much difference to us ALL…when we begin to do it! because Jesus IS there ALWAYS…us noticing Him orients us toward the one & only “true north” in our life…
AND…all these other “more exciting things” gain depth & definition from us SEEING Jesus’ Presence with & in us.
what an awesome reminder to LOOK…
for ME, that’s where the battle is won OR lost…in remembering to LOOK…to WATCH…to EXPECT Jesus to be hanging close to me…
love you, girl, AND your soft, deep heart!
dad
[...] The Little, Boring Things | Sarah Markley [...]
Sarah this is such a beautiful post! Thank you for this. I am so inclined to not pay attention that I want to try to work on this discipline. I have to meet someone later this evening and I will be walking to meet them. I’m going to try to do exactly what you have encouraged here. Watch. Ask. Look. Thank you friend.
I learned from my four year old daughter to give like I have no worries for tomorrow. I blogged about it on my new little blog. I hope you don’t mind if I share it here… thank you for reminding me of the beauty of the simple things Sarah.
http://livinglargewiththemanincharge.blogspot.com/2010/09/lesson-on-faith-and-treasures-from-four.html
This was a really great reminder Sarah! Thanks and what a great way to teach young kids! My biggest problem is the ‘listening’! Something I have been really ‘asking’ God about lately.
Sarah, I wondered if this could be taught and wala! You did it! ha! I am sooo glad that He teaches us throughout the little things of our day, because I don’t have a lot of big amazing things going on!
He showed me a little creamy butterfly landing on a bright colored soda can. But it didn’t stay long. It might have looked tempting, but that was not nectar. And so He says to me to not stay where He is not, but turn and come quick to the real thing, Jesus. And be satisfied.
love, deb
I do the same thing. I’m not sure that I was conditioned for it the same way you were, and I’d never thought about a formula (but I love yours). It’s the main point behind my blog (which I summarize as “Turning the Daily into Devotion).
I think we can learn from the big experiences, and from what others learn and share about theirs. But I’ve found that I have many more ordinary days than extraordinary (good or bad). For me, seeing God in the smallest moments of the most ordinary days brings Him near enough to know He’s there in the big things.
I’m training my mind to do this too, only with song titles and ideas and things… Maybe I should also open my mind to the Divine showing up in the everydayness of life.
Yes. The little things. Me too. “Slow Flow”. God has been speaking that to us lately.
The “little boring things” become so beautiful. Thank you Sarah.