5 Senses to Prayer in 2026

Let's not beat around the bush!

You might feel like it’s the beginning of March 2026, but for me, I’m lost somewhere in time. Perhaps it’s the beginning of 2023, maybe it’s January, or maybe it’s the middle of 2025… the calendar has not done a great job of tethering me to a place or space. But here I am.

Sunset at Waitangi

An update…

My Dad passed away on 22 January 2026, at the end of a seven-month stretch of palliative care. Apart from a couple of evenings off and one weekend away, I was administering meds and on call 24/7 throughout that entire time, trotting backwards and forwards from his home next door multiple times a day and night. It was exhausting, but also a great privilege. The end was peaceful - Mum and I were with him as he took his last breath.

We held off his funeral until my brother who is based in the UK could get home to Aotearoa New Zealand, and had a beautiful send-off for a great man of God. Kua hinga te tōtara i te wao nui a Tāne. (A mighty tōtara has fallen in the great forest of Tāne)

The next day, his sister - my very loved and adored Aunty - decided to join her brother. The speed of her decline was unexpected and a massive emotional wrench for me and our entire whānau. She’d left detailed instructions for my husband, Andrew, and me to take her funeral. Again, it was a privilege, but something I was less prepared to face. Two funerals in the space of just over a week. A generation wiped out. Two of my biggest supporters and encouragers - gone.

Ross Bindon & Noeline Parker with me

It’s no surprise I’m going to take some time to get my energy back, and to process these last few weeks, months and years. I have every intention of being gentle with myself. I’ve already had a short holiday in Te Tai Tokerau - not enough to do anything except kickstart a reset. There’s no way I can instantly catch up on sleep, rest, chores and writing all at once.

The good news is I’m inspired and committed to posting weekly for 5 Senses to Prayer. However, I’m going to keep 2026 very simple. My plan for the foreseeable part of this year is to release one prayer a week based on an idiom. (If you have a favourite, please let me know!) I’ll write a new prayer each week, never before published, for each idiom. I’ll be light on the free-flow writing you usually get from me, at least for the next few weeks. The posts sent out in March will be for all subscribers to enjoy before I put the paywall in place in April.

I still have big plans to move into a new space with a different style of delivery and a digital vault filled with all my interactive prayers. It’s a work in progress, and not something I’m prioritising until things have settled down a lot more. I’ll plan on updating you sometime in the next couple of months. In the meantime, I just want to get back into the regular rhythm of posting prayers.

So on that note… let’s not beat around the bush!

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Don’t beat around the bush

Photo by Edgar Louis on Unsplash

Meaning

Stop talking about unimportant things and distractions and get straight to the point!

Prayer

Find a bush, shrub, small tree, or flowering plant. Walk around it if you can, or stand next to it and touch a branch. Search for something in the back of your mind that you’ve been procrastinating about talking to God about.

Begin your prayer with the words -God, I want to stop beating around the bush…

In a few simple words, voice your thoughts to God.

Alternatively, if there’s something you are distracting yourself from talking to another person about, invite God’s strength and support as you pray and then engage with your person.

Begin your prayer with the words - God, help me to stop beating around the bush. Support me as I talk to (name) and tell them what I’m really thinking.

If you’re using this prayer in a group setting, place several pot plants around the space and invite people to walk ‘around a bush’ and pray this prayer.