The Boring Years, Spiritual Formation in the Shadows, Beneath the Routine, and Praying the Ordinary
The Intentional Parents Podcast
Intentional
5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Do you ever catch yourself wishing away the ordinary, mundane days of parenting — those moments that feel repetitive, exhausting, or spiritually dry? Maybe you carry guilt for not “praying enough,” or wonder when you’ll ever have space for deep spiritual encounters again.
In this week’s episode, Brook and Elizabeth invite you to reimagine what prayer looks like in the midst of diapers, dishes, and daily routines. They explore the idea of praying the ordinary — cultivating an inner posture of attentiveness, availability, and surrender in even the most mundane moments.
Drawing from real-time personal experiences, they share how to incorporate breath prayers into your day, practical ways to invite God into the small things, common obstacles to practicing ordinary prayer — and how to overcome them.
With honesty and hope, Brook and Elizabeth remind us that you are never too ordinary for the presence of God. He delights in showing up in the unnoticed spaces, and there is a heavenly reward for living in righteousness and rejoicing in the ordinary.
Breath Prayers You Can Borrow:
- Inhale: “Lord, you’re my strength.” Exhale: “Help me love with patience.”
- Inhale: “You know my child.” Exhale: “Better than I do.”
- Inhale: “Father, shape my heart…” Exhale: “…to reflect yours”
- Inhale: “I surrender control.” Exhale: “I trust your care.”
- Inhale: “Come, Holy Spirit.” Exhale: “Guide my parenting today.”
Scripture Mentioned: Colossians 3:17, Genesis 1:26-28, Revelation 3:19-20, Psalm 23 + Romans 12:1
Books Mentioned: Prayer by Richard Foster, Domestic Monastery: Creating Spiritual Life at Home by Ronald Rolheiser, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence + Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We want to invite you to the intentional motherhood retreat, 2025. |
| 0:05.2 | For the past two years, hundreds of mothers from around the country have gathered with us for a weekend of worship, |
| 0:12.1 | teaching, and connection, and really to seek God together. |
| 0:15.8 | And we can't wait to do it all again at this year's motherhoodreat, this time in Portland, Oregon, October 23rd through 25th. |
| 0:25.0 | So come join us. We can't wait to see you. |
| 0:32.3 | You're listening to the Intentional Parents podcast, brought to you by Intentional. Intentional is all about spiritual |
| 0:38.9 | formation in the family. We desire to bring biblical hope and practical hope. Enjoy this week's |
| 0:45.4 | conversation. Welcome back to the Intentional Parents podcast. |
| 0:55.1 | Praying the ordinary. |
| 0:57.5 | How do we find God in the boring, mundane, frustrating, ongoing, seemingly dead time of life? |
| 1:08.5 | The times when life feels so full and exciting yet so boring uh i think that's a lot of |
| 1:15.0 | parenthood as i've experienced it as we've experienced it and elizabeth and i want to talk about |
| 1:19.6 | that today and how do we actually make those mundane moments some of the most beautiful |
| 1:24.6 | captured moments for jesus in different. And so that can almost sound |
| 1:28.9 | lofty or idealistic, but I don't think it is. I actually think it's very helpful and practical. |
| 1:33.3 | And there's a lot of other folks that have lived much longer and are actually not even on this |
| 1:38.1 | earth any longer that would give us wisdom and insight to that reality. If you haven't had a |
| 1:43.2 | chance to rate and subscribe to the podcast, would you just take a |
| 1:45.8 | second and do that? |
| 1:46.3 | That is so helpful to just even pause for a second, 10 seconds, and just rate the podcast |
| 1:51.3 | if it's been helpful. |
| 1:52.7 | Leave a comment. |
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