Jesus said to them, “Come away with me. Let us go alone to a quiet place and rest for a while…” Mark 6:31

 

When her text came in, I was home alone, lying in bed, resting up between bouts of the most violent stomach flu in the history of my stomach.

 

Monday, June 5, 10:02 am — Good morning, Mrs. Jody.

I haven’t been at my best lately… I’ve been struggling with my mental health. Usually I don’t have an issue with my

mental health because I stay positive, but I’ve been consumed with negative thinking and constantly needing verbal

reassurance from my boyfriend. I know I need to pray and read the Bible, but I haven’t been motivated to do it. So I’ve

been just trying to do what I can a little at a time.

 

I knew my young friend would be horrified to think she’d disturbed me on a sick day, so I didn’t mention that. Just mustered up enough energy and brain power for a short response.

 

10:38 am — Thank you for sharing that with me, Hanna. I have a lot of ideas and resources that could help, but I want to take some

time to pray for you first.

Can you tell me if you’re dealing with anxiety, depression, or something else?

Can you identify three areas your thoughts are centering around or specific thoughts that repeat in your mind?

You don’t have to tell me specifics if you aren’t comfortable with that. God knows. I can trust Him to direct my prayers.

I realize you didn’t ask me for help, it’s just where I go when someone I love has a problem. (Maybe “trying to help” is my love

language)

 

Her reply came an hour (and several sprints to the bathroom) later.

 

11:49 am — I sincerely appreciate your help and prayers. I feel heard when you ask me specific questions instead of giving me a

solution of reading the Bible and praying more. I think I’ve been depressed and a little anxious. There were some days where I would

just cry and not know why I was sad. There would also be days when I couldn’t get out of bed. Here are some of the thoughts I keep

having.

1. My boyfriend should find a better partner. I’m not worthy of his love and he deserves better.

2. I’m never going to pass my nursing exam, there’s no point in trying. Every try turns into failure so what’s the point?

3. I feel far from God. I need to pray and read the Bible to get closer again but he seems too distant.

 

The next day, the violent part of my illness over, I ventured outside. Three steps from the little gate/portal into my favorite short woodsy walk, this reminder–You said you’d pray for Hanna. Now would be a good time. And just on the other side of the gate, I got an answer for her, and–though I didn’t know it yet–an answer for me.

 

Tuesday, 2:53 pm — Hanna, I just got back from a short prayer walk and I have something I’d like to share with you to possibly help

you with your anxiety and depression. It’s a short and simple assignment, but if you don’t do it, I’ll understand. I just feel I should

share it because it was an idea that came while I was praying for you and let you decide.

 

1. Find a verse or passage that praises God and write it on a note card or piece of paper.

2. Take the verse/passage outside to a comfortable spot with a view you like.

3. Sit down for five minutes to say the verse/passage out loud and notice the view.

4. Once you’ve memorized the first verse/passage, if you want to add on, I suggest looking for a verse/passage that disagrees with

one of the depressing or anxious thoughts that have been attacking you and making it your own.

For example, for thoughts like the ones that say I will never finish my book and that you will never pass your test—

God is able to make all grace abound to me so that having all sufficiency for all things at all times, I may abound in every good work. 

(from 2 Corinthians 9:8)

5. Determine how many days you will do this and make it a priority for however many days you choose. (I suggest at least 21)

 

That’s it. Five minutes a day, outside, with one scripture. It may lift your mood but don’t expect it to. Just be faithful to do it for the

set amount of days and then you can evaluate.

I have a lot of spiritual and scientific reasons for suggesting this and we can talk about that sometime if you’d like. But while you are

deep in the trenches, I thought I’d just throw you a rope to grab onto.

I will keep praying for you and I look forward to continuing this conversation as you are able.

 

Five minutes a day. I thought it was a pretty good idea. Simple. Challenging for a person who sometimes has trouble getting herself out of bed, but doable, right?

When I didn’t hear back that day or the next, though, I realized even a five-minutes-a-day plan could be too much. I might have scared this dear girl away with my solution instead of simply offering sympathy.

 

Thursday, June 8, 8:54 am — Hi Mrs. Jody! I’m sorry for getting back to you now. I’ve been so tired due to getting used to early

morning drives to work. I think this is a great idea! Thank you so so so much for praying for me!

 

That time of waiting for Hanna’s response provided the extra space I needed to see that the idea I had for her actually fit beautifully into my own 2023 focus on the word dwell. I was excited to answer that text.

 

9:07 AM — Hanna, it’s my privilege and pleasure to pray for you. I’ve been thinking it would also be good for me to sit outside for five

minutes a day to meditate on a verse or two. I’d like to join you. Please let me know when you start (I suggest today. For the enemy,

and any feelings that we must start perfectly, can discourage us from beginning even the simplest good endeavors) and how many

days you feel led to do this. I will be praying along with you and will send scripture and encouragement as God leads. We could even

send a to each other at the end of each day’s 5 minutes.

Sorry if I’m getting carried away. These ideas are just coming to me as I text.

 

We started the next day with a plan to continue for a total of twenty-one days.

***

I’m still going sixty-two days later. This simple idea God gave me for Hanna has turned into one of my favorite things.

It isn’t my only practice in my walk with God. But it’s the one I most look forward to each day, knowing I get to slip away and just be with Him.

I love the freedom given in those five undetailed guidelines, too.

I can read one verse or many.

I can sing or speak, or simply listen and breath.

I can choose a swing in the arbor, or spread a blanket under a tree in my yard,

or find a pretty corner away from home.

and just sit in His presence.

I’ve been still enough to notice a troupe of bumblebees dancing amongst tiny wildflowers.

I’ve gazed upon squirrels chattering on tree branches heavy with fledgling apples.

I’ve perched in the grandkids’ treehouse, ears tuned to birdsong, sight skimming a pine canopy to distant mountain peaks.

I’ve even, at the close of more than one hot summer day, lain back upon our still-warm concrete walkway, casting my eyes upward to a dark and starry sky.

***

I’ve now sent fifty-one thumbs Hanna’s way, gratefully amazed by how long five minutes alone outside with God can feel in the middle of all the hurry of life.

That’s right. Only fifty-one times in sixty-two days. I’d thought my record was better, but I checked just now.

Ordinarily, 51 of 62 would seem to me a shamefully poor showing.

Hanna is even further “behind” in the count than I am.

 

She’s behind me, but also in front of me in this good way–

The first five days, we each sent a and an answering . On the sixth day, neither of us did. I actually did the time, just forgot the .

So, to make up for the oversight, I sent two on Day 7.

Still nothing from Hanna.

On Day 8, I almost forgot. I went out after dinner, sending my upward turned thumb text just as the sun was setting.

At 10:03 pm, I got a text from Hanna: Day 6 .

Hmmm…. Day 6 on Day 8.

Her brave Day 6 coming two days late, surprised me and got me thinking.

If it had been me, I either would have quit altogether or replaced my  with a stern finger pointing back to the starting line with a Day 1 attached. I’d never have thought of simply continuing on.

Now, thanks to Hanna’s example, I keep stumbling forward, picking back up where I dropped off, giving myself another for every five minutes of this prescribed sitting outside with my Father.

 

And there’s another thing I love about that little daily (or almost daily) five-minute practice. Each time I send a , I connect with Hanna and with all of God’s people in a way I hadn’t anticipated.

My timer goes off (yes, I set a timer) and I send that word, number, picture communication to Hanna with a sweet sense of her stumbling along with me in our little human journey with God,

a sweet sense, also, of the vast number of God’s people imperfectly congregating around the world on a Sunday,

and gathering for midweek Bible studies and prayer meetings,

and meeting with God, sleepy-eyed for morning or evening devotions,

a sense of all of us, sending up our small, bumbling prayers, songs, and hopes, in all the small minutes of the day.

 

A five-minute appointment with God may not seem like much. It may not seem like enough. In the strictest sense, it isn’t enough. And, most days, I still can’t say I do even this right. Sometimes, in those five minutes, my mind wanders a hundred times away from God and toward problem solving and mental list making. But the good news is, when that happens, I get a hundred times to practice the tiny self-admonition to just stop that nonsense and sit with my Father. Just enjoy Him and notice the beauty in the world He created.

All the rest of everything can wait for five minutes.

Everything.

Even this.

Right now.

Hang on, I’ll be right back…

 

 

 

…Day 52

 

(Hey, there, if taking some five-minutes-a-day breaks outside in God’s quiet presence sounds good to you, I suggest you find a partner who’s just a quick text away and get started today. Or, if you’d rather, you’re welcome to join me and send your right here : )