Ghia—I like to pray without words by using my senses. We are familiar with the idea of feeling, seeing and hearing God. But can we taste and smell God as well? I think so!

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Hooray.

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Gia here.

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Welcome to the Creative Spiritual Journey

podcast, where Judy and I explore faith,

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nature, and the simple practices that

bring wonder and joy to everyday life.

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This is the second episode in my

miniseries called Praying Without Words.

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Today, I want to focus on

praying with the senses.

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How does that sound?

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A little odd?

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Well, I hope that by the time

I'm done, you will love praying

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with the senses as much as I do.

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I listened to a podcast years

ago that talked about being

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able to see, feel, and hear God.

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That sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

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We can see the hand of God in our lives.

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We can feel a burning in our bosom.

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We can hear the whisperings of the Spirit.

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I love all of that.

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But the idea of using my senses

prompted me to ask, "Can I smell God?

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Can I taste God?"

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This got me wondering and thinking

and paying attention, and a few days

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later, I was outside during a summer

rainstorm, and the air filled with the

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smell of wet earth, and I got so excited

because I realized I could smell God.

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he was in the smell of the wet earth.

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Do you know what I'm talking about?

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It's such a good smell,

especially during a hot summer.

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Of course, this is a personal thing.

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You may smell God differently,

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But for me, I smelled God

in the wet earth that day.

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If you doubt that you can smell

God in the smell of wet earth,

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then listen to this Bible verse.

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Hosea fourteen six says, "His branches

shall spread, and his beauty shall be as

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the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon."

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And what does Lebanon refer to here?

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The cedars of Lebanon, a tree.

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Hosea says God smells like a tree.

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The cedars of Lebanon are described

as having a deeply woody, resinous

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scent with an earthy undertone.

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I would describe the smell of wet

earth after a summer rain as the

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mix of fresh soil, minerals, and

a faint almost raw earthiness.

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Really?

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Is that much of a difference?

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If Hosea can say God smells like a tree,

I can say he smells like wet earth.

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Well, okay, I know there could

be some important tree of life

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references in a cedar tree smell.

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Still, I'm going with it.

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To me, God smells like wet

earth after a rainstorm.

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So how do I turn smell and

touch and taste into a prayer?

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in my mind, the better I know

God, the easier it is to be

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in relationship with him.

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Doctrine and Covenants 88:63

says, "Draw near unto me, and

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I will draw near unto you."

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There are lots of ways

to draw near unto God.

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Scripture study, service,

family, music, the list goes on.

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I just have this idea of

knowing him with my senses.

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To me, these senses ground me in my

body and to the earth, and I love that.

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Now, when I talked about praying

with the breath, I talked

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about breathing in gratitude.

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I could have used any

emotion: love, joy, peace.

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But gratitude seems especially

relevant because it's a familiar

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part of our word prayers.

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So let's stick with gratitude and start

asking some questions so that I can

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explain how this practice works for me.

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this takes a little imagination.

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It takes letting go of rigid ideas.

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So open your mind and let yourself play.

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the first question is: What

does gratitude look like?

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Psalms 19:1 says, "The heavens

declare the glory of God."

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Oh my, the heavens.

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When you gaze at a sky of billowing white

clouds with golden rays of light streaming

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through them, does it look like gratitude?

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I think so.

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What else looks like gratitude?

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How about a newborn baby?

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The first ripe tomato in the garden.

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A family gathered around the table.

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Ducklings waddling after their mother.

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It just takes a little practice

to recognize these sights as

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gratitude, but I bet you will

begin to see things everywhere.

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And as you do, each one

can become a prayer.

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You don't have to say anything,

simply notice with intention.

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If you want to give a slightly

more prayer-like expression without

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using words, you can put a hand

to your heart as a gesture for

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saying, "I see it, Heavenly Father.

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I see the creation of Your Son,

Jesus Christ, and I am grateful."

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Just a hand to the heart says

all that without any words.

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So the next question is hear.

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How do we hear gratitude?

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John 10:27 says, "My

sheep listen to my voice.

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I know them, and they follow me."

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So what does that sound like?

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Of course, I hear gratitude

in the hymns at church.

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I hear it in the ringtone when my

daughter calls or the sound of my fabulous

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man when he's breathing next to me.

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I love all of those, But one

of my favorite ways to hear

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gratitude is in the songs of birds.

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I spent two months with my mother

after she recently broke her hip,

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and the sound of geese outside on

the lake was such a comfort to me.

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I was genuinely surprised by this

and grateful for their honking

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during what was kind of a hard time.

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In more everyday life, I love the sound

of songbirds singing in the morning.

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And do you know what I find so

cool about morning birdsong?

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If you imagine the Earth's rotation, the

sun is always coming up somewhere, which

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means that the sound of birds rolls in

a wave continually around the Earth.

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They are so happy that the

light is returning that they

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sing out to their friends.

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It's a joyful wave of gratitude

endlessly circling the Earth.

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I love it.

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So now we have smell.

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How do we smell gratitude?

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We kind of already talked about this

one, but here is another scripture.

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Song of Solomon 1:3 says, "Your

name is like perfume poured out."

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Perfume poured out.

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That makes me think of roses.

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I love the smell of roses, and

it makes me think of a special

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remedy listed in my book titled

Essential Oils Natural Remedies.

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The remedy is called Rose Teddy Bear.

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the book says, quote, "Rose essential

oil soothes fear, eases nervous

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tension, alleviates stress, and helps

the mind cope with unruly emotions."

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The remedy calls for a

favorite stuffed animal and two

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drops of rose essential oil.

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Dab the essential oil onto the

stuffed animal and give it to a child.

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Repeat this treatment as needed to

promote a calm, harmonious home.

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Isn't that cute?

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What could smell more like gratitude

than a rose-scented teddy bear?

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But don't be fooled.

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This is not only for children.

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I don't sleep with a teddy bear

anymore, but I do have a favorite

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pillow, so it's perfect for adults.

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And how wonderful to fall asleep smelling

rose or whatever your favorite scent

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might be, and doing it with the intent

of that smell being a gratitude prayer

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you share with God as you fall asleep

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Now I can't leave the smell

of gratitude with roses.

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I also smell gratitude in

sautéing onions and garlic.

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I mean, seriously, does anything

make the kitchen smell better?

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To me, that's the smell of gratitude.

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Ah, hand to my heart, and it becomes

a prayer of gratitude to my God.

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And there is one more thing about

smelling gratitude that I have to mention.

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I have taken to stopping and smelling

the sacrament bread before I eat it.

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The first time I tried, I wasn't even sure

if there would be a smell, but there was.

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Now, it might depend on the type of bread,

but every time I have stopped to try, that

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comforting smell of bread has been there.

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That, to me, is the

ultimate smell of gratitude.

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Bread is the gift of life, and smelling

the bread is just a simple way to

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ground the sacrament into my body.

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And done with intention, I believe

it becomes an extra prayer.

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our next sense is taste.

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Really?

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Can we taste gratitude?

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What do you think?

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Am I taking this too far?

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Well, Mormon didn't seem to think so.

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Mormon one:fifteen says, "I was

visited of the Lord and tasted and

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knew of the goodness of Jesus."

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And Psalms says basically the same thing,

"O taste and see that the Lord is good."

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Taste is fascinating because it's one

of the most intimate of the five senses.

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You can admire a sunset from a distance.

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You can hear bird song across the meadow.

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You can smell cedar on the breeze.

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But you can't taste something

without receiving it into yourself.

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Taste takes participation.

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Some things can only be

known through experience.

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Taste also requires slowing down.

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If we rush through a meal,

we barely notice its flavor.

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The same is true of spirituality.

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Gratitude grows when we

savor rather than consume.

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The sweetness of a peach picked from

the tree, the sour of lemonade, the

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salt on popcorn, the bitterness of

dark chocolate, the savor of Parmesan.

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Oh, taste is wonderful.

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And we taste gratitude when we slow down

enough to notice the richness of life.

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Psalms thirty-four:eight says, "Taste

and see that the Lord is good."

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The invitation is not just to know about

God, but to experience Him, to taste Him.

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And when you take a moment to

linger over life's simple gifts, we

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begin to taste the goodness of God.

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Not all at once, but in

small, nourishing moments.

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and when we relish with intention, these

moments, these pauses can become a prayer.

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Just a simple pause acknowledged

with gratitude and possibly a

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hand to the heart will become a

wordless prayer you share with God.

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Now let's end with feel.

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How do we feel gratitude?

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This one seems like it should be obvious,

but stop for a moment and think about it.

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How do you feel gratitude?

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Doctrine and Covenants nine eight

says, "I will cause that your

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bosom shall burn within you."

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That's a good one, and one I

think we're familiar with hearing.

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But here is a scripture about feeling

God that I think I like the most.

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Second Nephi one one says, "I am encircled

about eternally in the arms of His love."

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Oh, my.

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Does a hug feel like gratitude?

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Have you ever thought about that before?

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I'm trying to figure out how I

can put my hand on my heart and

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hug someone at the same time.

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I suppose what I can do is press my

hand to someone's back at the level of

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my heart and make the gesture that way.

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Or perhaps I can simply breathe in

the feeling of a hug when I want

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to share my gratitude with God.

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I also like to hug myself.

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I do this often at the

end of a meditation.

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I cross my arms across

my chest and slowly rock.

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this is soothing for our nervous

system, engendering a feeling

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of being rocked as a baby.

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I find this a beautiful

way to show gratitude.

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I am grateful for myself, for my body,

and for everything it does for me.

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my body and all of our bodies, yours

included, no matter what you might think,

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are always doing the best they can for us.

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I love that about bodies.

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So by taking that small pause and

feeling our gratitude for God as

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the feeling of a hug it becomes

a simple wordless form of prayer.

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I love to pray with these ideas, and I

hope I have inspired you to think about,

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notice, and tune into your own senses.

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Just keep in mind that when we

pray with our senses, we are

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not reaching somewhere far away.

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We are waking up to what is

already there, a sight, a sound,

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a sense, a touch, a taste.

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And all we need to do is slow

down and notice with intention.

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This practice didn't come to me all

in one day, but over time, as I paid

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attention, I found myself surprised

by a moment of sudden beauty, a soft

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scent, a quiet sound, or maybe a

loud sound like the honking of geese.

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and with time, I have developed the

habit of making these moments a prayer.

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Only God and I know what's going on.

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It's personal, just between us.

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But for me, it opens a new kind of

relationship because when I'm using my

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senses, my prayer is much more grounded

in my body, which I believe is important.

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I believe God wants us to

experience the whole of our bodies.

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And what more beautiful way than to pray

to Him using the senses He has given us?

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So there you go.

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Those are My Thoughts this week

about praying without words.

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Until next week, namaste.