Episode 141

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Published on:

24th Aug 2026

141. Praying without Words—The Senses

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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Transcript
ghia:

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.

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About the Podcast

Creative Spiritual Journey
one small, deliberate step at a time
We are all on a journey—a journey home to our heavenly parents. Any experienced traveler knows there are days you laugh and days you cry.

We aren’t here to tell you how to live—we are here to share how we live—how we survive, thrive, and even find joy!

The journey gets messy with rainstorms and sleepless flights but the hard times—the miserable times—those make the best stories.

And the vistas, the sunsets, the little birds outside the window—those are the reminders that God is in the details, he is aware of us, he has trod the path before.

The Creative Spiritual Journey Podcast is hosted by Judy and Ghia Cooley—two sisters in their wisdom years—who love the savior and are dedicated to making this journey one small, deliberate step at a time.

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