Ruth Chou Simons’ Simple Morning Habit That Says ‘I Am Here Today’ (Exclusive)
Six sons, one new season—here's how the bestselling author finds joy without an 'overhaul'
Key Takeaways
- Discover ways to find purpose and connection when transitioning into a new season of life.
- Small daily habits, like making your bed, help cultivate deep inner peace without burnout.
- Slowing down and letting go of over-optimization allows you to focus on what matters most.
Bestselling author and artist Ruth Chou Simons has spent nearly two decades encouraging others to find God’s grace in the ordinary moments of everyday life. Her journey began with her GraceLaced blog, created nearly 20 years ago with the goal of helping women find grace in the everyday. Now, in her new book, This Moment Matters: 100 Ways to Cultivate a Grace-Laced Life, Ruth offers 100 practical ways to recognize God’s grace and cultivate beauty, joy and purpose in the life you’re already living.
Here, Ruth shared her wisdom with Woman’s World about how small moments make each day special, the importance of making time for what matters most, and stewarding a beautiful life.
How to embrace a new season of life with purpose
For women entering a new chapter—whether that means an empty nest, retirement or simply having more time to themselves—Ruth says there’s an opportunity to stop looking backward and start intentionally investing in the life right in front of them.
She knows the feeling herself, as her oldest of six sons recently got married and she’s beginning to see her own family move into a new season. “I’m starting to see how it’s possible for you to think that your life is about milestones,” she says. “Get married, have kids, develop a career, and once some of those things are established, sometimes it’s like, ‘What am I supposed to do now with my life?’”
But Ruth assures our lives are about far more than the big moments we’re waiting for. “Our days are actually not filled with big milestone moments,” she says. “When you start cultivating eyes to see the grace in our everyday, to start cultivating ways to discover joy and abundance in everyday moments,” life begins to look different.
And for women wondering what their purpose can look like in a new chapter, she says there are opportunities all around them. “So instead of a woman going, ‘My kids moved away. They live in another state.’ Well, who’s the young lady who wishes that you could teach her how to make banana bread?” she says. “Or instead of being like, ‘Wow, my career was so amazing, and now I feel like I’ve aged out.’ Where could you mentor somebody?”
Ruth adds, “There’s every opportunity to be intentional, but you have to look for that.”
Why small, everyday choices can make a big difference
Ruth suggests starting with just one small, purposeful change can make all the difference. There’s no pressure to do an overhaul of your entire life. “I would say, start living intentionally first. What’s one way to serve somebody?” she challenges. “What’s one way to have somebody over to my house? What’s one way to take care of myself? If you just start with one thing, that progress can be made without getting overwhelmed.”
She also encourages women to release the pressure to see immediate, measurable results from everything they do. “For a lot of women, you spend your whole lifetime finding value or the reward in things that are measurable,” she says. But some of the most important work happens where nobody else can see it.
“Going on a walk is actually nothing that Instagram is going to reward you for,” Ruth says. “It might open your heart and mind to the Creator and what He’s made, and having a conversation with your friend over coffee and making time for that doesn’t earn you any money, but it might actually build something in the inner life.”
And one of her favorite examples is surprisingly simple: making your bed. “Something as simple as making your bed says and signals to yourself, I am here today. I’m not just a passenger in my own life,” she says. “I’m going to be a teacher. I’m ready, Lord, for whatever you got my way.”
How to make time for what matters most
After years of raising six sons while building a business, writing books and speaking, Ruth has learned firsthand that being intentional also means recognizing what not to do. “God can call you to a lot of things, but maybe not all at the same time,” she says. “When the thing that we sometimes get stuck in is this idea that if I just optimize my life enough, I can have it all and do it all.”
This is something she lived through, too. She realized she was running herself ragged trying to do all the things when really she wasn’t called to all of it. “I don’t have to optimize every moment of my life,” she says. “Sometimes the most productive things that I could possibly do for my goals and for everything else is to say I need to make time to be silent, to not be the most efficient, and to kind of make room for the Lord to teach me something.”
For Ruth, that has meant going on walks without a podcast, without answering messages and without trying to make every moment productive. “I need to go on a walk and just be with creation and give thanks to God for making this beautiful sunset,” she says. “And that did more for my productivity than anything.”
Ruth Chou Simons’ hope for women reading her new book
Ultimately, Ruth hopes her new book feels like a friend gently reminding them of the beauty already present in their lives. “My prayer is that she would feel hope to start in small places,” she says. “That it wouldn’t feel like another thing to do, but it would feel like a sister, a friend coming alongside, almost like having coffee and being like, you know, what’s helped for me is to buy some grocery store flowers and arrange them because it helps me notice.”
Above all, Ruth hopes to reach women who are wondering what their lives mean now. “My hope is to reach somebody who feels a little empty inside, who feels a little bit like life feels a little meaningless. I’m not sure what I’m doing, and that there would be just a little bit of beauty, a little invitation, a little bit of like, ‘You can do this!’” she says.
With This Moment Matters, Ruth offers women an invitation to stop waiting for the next big milestone and notice the grace tucked into the ordinary.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
