The Undevotional: 52 Ways to Find God Without Trying So Hard

Many of us are hungry for God's presence, but we have outgrown the belief that there's one right way to enter it. After decades of rigorous Bible study, author and pastor Courtney Ellis hadn't found the connection to God she'd hoped for. Then she began taking daily walks with binoculars. Suddenly her spiritual awareness flickered to life, all without struggle or effort. Now Ellis offers us fifty-two not-really devotionals that bring us into encounters with an exceedingly creative God.

Farm fields, cirrus clouds, snow, hawks, quaking aspen--these and other loving glimpses of the natural world become portals through which we delight in God and receive God's love for us and all creation. Ellis takes us on a whimsical and lyrical journey into the remarkable world that thrums around us and into simple actions of attentiveness as prayer. Drink some water. Sit outside in the dark. Make a list of your longings. Spend some quality time with moss: These and other invitations give us an uncommon way toward God. A short passage from the Bible and a prayer practice accompany each reading.

The Undevotional is not here to undo your faith; it's here to call you away from the slog you thought it demanded. It's for when you feel grumpy or sad, unsettled or hungry for beauty, running ragged or tired of surviving extremes. It's here to remind you that as you watch birds, they watch you, and God watches over us all. With buoyant prose filled with wisdom from Scripture, The Undevotional welcomes us onto a path back to God and toward days filled with reverence, astonishment, and awe.