The Ryan Leak Podcast - Brother Lawrence

Episode Date: June 15, 2026

Most people think God shows up in the big moments. The big stage, the big breakthrough, the big answered prayer. But one of the most influential voices in 400 years of Christian history never preached a sermon, never wrote a book, and never stood on a stage. He washed dishes in a monastery kitchen for decades. His name was Brother Lawrence, and he figured out something most of us are still missing.In this episode, Ryan unpacks Brother Lawrence’s simple but life-changing idea and shares how it’s shown up in his own life in the most unexpected ways. Whether you’re a person of faith or not, this one is about presence, awareness, and finding meaning in the moments most people skip over. Because significance doesn’t always announce itself. Sometimes it whispers. And you’ll only hear it if you’re listening.

What's going on, my friends? Welcome back to the Ryan League podcast, where we love to keep things short and sweet for you each and every week. Today's episode is a little bit different because I'm going to be talking about a man of faith and a book rooted in Christian spirituality and a principle that has been shaping the way that I live a lot lately. So if you are not a person of faith,

I want you to stick with me because I genuinely believe that what I'm about to share can add tremendous value to your life regardless of what you believe because at its core, this episode is about presence, being in the moment, paying attention, finding meaning in moments that most people would skip over. And I think that's something we all could use a little bit more of. I have a career right now where I'm consistently on stages that feel big, consistently in front of thousands of people, social media following continues to grow, where I could easily fall for the trap of consistently chasing the next big opportunity

or chasing what is viral. And this can sort of be the measuring stick for if someone is successful and doing something meaningful in life as if they're doing it big on stage in front of a lot of people or they're doing it big online in some way, shape, or form or have a massive podcast audience and whatnot. and all those things are great. But if I'm not careful, if you're not careful, we could actually have our theology about God be shaped by,

okay, he's giving big opportunities to this person and he's giving this person, this platform, and this influence. And we can really fall for the trap of believing that God is really concerned and shows up in these like really, really big moments, but he's rather disinterested in the small, mundane moments of life. And I learned something in a book about, well, it's a dishwasher. Yeah, it's a dishwasher. His name was Nicholas Herman.

He was born in 1614 in France, and he wasn't a pastor or a theologian. He was actually a soldier and then a household servant. And at age 26, he walked into a monastery, in Paris, not to preach or leave, but to work in the kitchen. That's right. He went into a monastery to work in the kitchen, and he spent the rest of his life washing dishes, preparing meals, scrubbing pots for decades in a kitchen. And he became known as Brother Lawrence.

Yeah, today I want to talk to you about Brother Lawrence. because after he died, his conversations and letters were compiled into one of the most influential spiritual books ever written. And it's called the practice of the presence of God. And its central idea is devastatingly simple. You don't need a cathedral or sanctuary to be in God's presence. You can be in God's presence while washing dishes. And that's it. A dishwasher cracked the code that theologians have been writing about for centuries.

His answer wasn't more prayer or more church. It was more awareness continuously turning your attention toward God throughout the ordinary moments of the day. He said he felt as close to God peeling potatoes as he did taking communion. It's like he made no distinction between the sacred and the secular because to him everything was sacred when you did it with the awareness of God's presence. So even if you don't share that theology, I want you to think about that principle. What if the most important moments of your life aren't the big ones? What if significance doesn't live on stages? What if the small, invisible, ordinary moments are where the real stuff happens?

I think about this in my own life because I do big things, you know, I do big companies and meet big personalities, but some of the most profound moments of my life have happened in the smallest settings. I was recently with a new mentor of mine, and we were having a kind of a get-to-know-you dinner in Orlando. And then as we were headed back to the hotel where the conference was where we were both speaking, it just went from a casual conversation to a God conversation. You could literally feel the shift happen. And it's just two dudes in a hotel lobby having a God moment that no one would ever see on camera and never talked about on a stage. But there was an awareness where we both even paused and recognized the divine nature.

of God bringing us together. There are times where I am driving down the road, no music, no podcast, and I'll just feel, God put a name on my heart. It could be a random name. A person I haven't called in a year, maybe it's somebody really close

that I just hadn't checked in on in a couple of weeks. And I'll just call them and say, hey, God put you on my heart for some reason. I don't know why what's up, how can I pray for you? I can tell you almost every time they go, you have no idea the timeliness of this phone call. You have no idea what has been going on in my life.

And I think that's the Brother Lawrence principle. It's about searching for God's purpose in your life on your commute to work, the carpool pickup at the summer barbecue, you an awareness that what is in front of you can be a God moment at any time. And so I think this message today is for two kinds of people. First, it's the person chasing big. The person who thinks that they haven't arrived because they haven't built the platform or landed the deal.

And if that's you, hear me, God is not waiting for you at some finish line. He wants to walk with you right now. He wants to sit with you at the soccer game, in the cubicle, in the kitchen. Might I encourage somebody today that he is not just the God of your destiny, he is the God of your Tuesday? And even without a faith lens, the principle holds the people who change the world aren't always on the biggest stages. Sometimes are the ones who are just fully present in the smallest room. the parent who puts the phone down, the coworker who notices someone struggling,

the friend who calls for no reason, I just think that presence is power, no matter what you believe. And secondly, I think this message is for the person who just feels invisible. The one teaching 25 kids while someone else speaks to 25,000 people. The one stocking shelves, answering phones,

changing diapers, and managing the schedule that nobody he applauds. Brother Lawrence is one of the most influential voices in 400 years of Christian history. And he washed dishes, never preached a sermon, never wrote a book, and other people wrote down what he said after he died. He just did his job with an awareness of God that was so consistent, so deep, that people couldn't stop talking about it. His influence didn't come from his platform. It came from his presence. My friend, I don't think you need a bigger stage to make a bigger impact.

I think you just need a deeper awareness of who's with you on the stage you already have. That's the invitation today. Not to do more, not to be bigger, but to be more aware. Aware in the morning before your phone lights up. Aware on the commute. aware in the name that randomly pops into your head while you're driving and picking up the phone and going maybe just maybe, God is in this moment right here, right now. Because God doesn't just show up in cathedrals and church sanctuaries.

He shows up in kitchens. He shows up on highways. He shows up in the phone calls you didn't plan to make. And if a dishwasher, in a monastery, in Paris, can change the world. by simply being aware of God's presence in the mundane, imagine what could happen if you and I did the same. My friends, thank you so much for listening to the Ryan League podcast. If today's episode inspired you, I would ask that you don't keep it to yourself.

Share it with a friend. And hey, it would mean the world to me if you'd take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. Your support helps us reach even more people with these short and sweet nuggets of inspiration. Thanks for being a part of the journey, and we'll catch you next time.