What my Watch Taught Me About Walking with God

Recently, after a string of health issues, my sons gently suggested something I had never really considered before – an Apple Watch.

Apparently, this little device can do quite a lot. It tracks heart rate and sleep patterns, detects falls, and even lets others know where you are if needed. As a mother in the “winter season” of life, I suppose that kind of peace of mind makes my boys feel better.

I’m still learning how to use it, but one feature has captured my attention: the activity rings.

If you’re unfamiliar with them, the watch tracks three colored rings throughout the day. The goal is to “close the rings” by meeting certain daily activity goals.

• Red Ring: Movement
• Green Ring: Exercise
• Blue Ring: Standing

The watch gently encourages you throughout the day: Keep moving. Stand up. In other words, don’t stay still too long.

As I looked at those three rings lighting up on my wrist, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a spiritual lesson tucked inside that tiny screen.

And you know me…I can’t resist a good parable.

Ring One: Filling the Heart with God’s Word

If we were to create spiritual activity rings, the first one might represent time spent in God’s Word. Just like our bodies need daily movement, our hearts need daily nourishment. Scripture grounds us, steadies us, and reminds us who God is when life feels uncertain.

The psalmist wrote: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105.

Some days our time in the Word may be long and lingering. Other days, it may be a simple verse that carries us through. But each time we open Scripture, we are strengthening our spiritual muscles.  Perhaps that first ring represents feeding our souls.

Ring Two: Staying Connected Through Prayer

Prayer keeps us spiritually upright, much like that blue standing ring on the watch reminds us not to sit too long. Our prayers don’t have to be eloquent. Often, they are whispered while washing dishes, spoken quietly in the car, or breathed in between tears.

The Apostle Paul reminds us: “Pray without ceasing.” I Thessalonians 5:17.

Prayer keeps us connected to the heart of God. It recenters us when worry creeps in and reminds us that we are never walking through life alone.

If Scripture feeds our souls, prayer keeps the conversation going.

Ring Three: Walking the Talk

The final ring might represent living out our faith. After all, faith was never meant to remain inside church walls or devotional journals. It was meant to be lived.

James reminds us: “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17.

This ring could represent the everyday opportunities we have to walk the talk as we talk the walk.

That might look something like:

• Offering encouragement to a weary friend
• Showing patience when it would be easier to complain
• Extending kindness to a stranger
• Choosing gratitude in difficult seasons

These are the quiet ways our faith becomes visible.

A Different Kind of Daily Goal

My watch may encourage me to close my activity rings, but it has also reminded me of something deeper. Each day is another opportunity to:

• Open God’s Word
• Speak with Him in prayer
• Live out what we believe

Not perfectly. Not impressively. Just faithfully.

And perhaps, by the end of the day, we can look back and see that something beautiful happened; we kept moving toward the heart of God.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, my watch just buzzed.

Apparently, it thinks I’ve been sitting too long. And who knows… maybe my soul needed that reminder, too.