Rinse. Wash. Dry. Repeat.

There are sometimes where the daily rhythms of life feel so mundane. Like breakfast dishes.

Do you have a morning routine?

I wake up, turn on the coffee pot, and while the water is heating and that first cup is brewing, I empty the dishes on the drying rack from last night’s dinner clean-up.

I sit down to enjoy my coffee and open the Bible app on my phone and read until my kids slowly wake up and wander down into my quiet space. Then, it’s time for breakfast, and more dishes.

Rinse. Wash. Dry. Repeat.

We get everyone ready for the day—diapers, clothes, hair, teeth and shoes.

Sometime shortly after this, someone starts asking for a snack. It doesn’t take long for the word to spread that mom is dishing out the good stuff and everyone else becomes convinced they need a snack, too. More dishes. Only this time I let the dishes sit, because I know come lunch time, there’ll be other dishes to address.

Then lunch. Then dishes. Then snacks. Then dishes. Then supper. Then final dishes and a grand cleaning swoop before bedtime.

It’s amazing how much of my day is spent addressing dish clean-up! But there is a rhythm to it that if I stick to the rhythm, I don’t get overwhelmed. If I let things pile up, the task feels too big, too time-consuming.

I heard recently from a preacher about his frequent and favorite daily prayer times. They go something like this:

“Lord, help.”

That’s it. His day is sprinkled with this short prayer. About to write an email? “Lord, help.” Making a phone call? “Lord, help.” Losing patience with the kids? “Lord, help.” It’s a rhythm of constant engagement with God. It’s not a two-to-three hour time slot (though his prayer life contains those, too!) but a short prayer that reengages his heart back to God in the midst of the mundane.

Another prayer he uses is, “Holy Spirit, show me more.” Short and sweet and sprinkled throughout the day.

I love this approach. If I were to pile up all these little prayers into a giant prayer time, it feels a little like letting my dishes pile up —a giant task that I just don’t want to tackle. My brain says it’s too hard! But five seconds throughout the day? No problem.

While we should have goals to expand our spiritual lives and times of devotion, getting to that point can often feel like a giant mountain. I genuinely WANT to be a person who prays for hours on end, but getting into that rhythm will take some practice. Can I start with a simplified rhythm? YES!

Rinse. Wash. Dry. Repeat.

Just because my musician brain is fully at work right now on ‘rhythm,’ here’s what I think my prayer life looks like and COULD look like: