Brian Plachta
11 min read ⭑
“For years, I had lots of good ideas about God. But I wanted more than ideas. I wanted a relationship. A God I could talk to when life got hard. A God who listens, guides, nudges, comforts, challenges and becomes real in ordinary life.”
At 28, Brian Plachta was frustrated with life and his faith. He wanted something more. Reaching a breaking point, he asked God to show him how to truly experience his presence — and he did. That encounter led Brian to leave his law career and devote himself to helping others experience God in their daily lives. He calls it “divine flow,” and it revolves around cultivating rhythms of quiet time, spiritual reading, community and discovering one’s spiritual gifts.
In this interview, we chat with Brian — author of Divine Flow, Finding Flow and more — about his most life-giving practices and habits, how the contemplative tradition transformed his relationship with God, and the books, retreats and apps that have shaped his faith journey.
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
Food is always about more than food; it’s also about home and people and love. So how does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind your web bio?
My favorite meal is any one at a locally owned restaurant in my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where my wife, our four adult children and some of our tribe of 12 grandchildren gather around a dinner table.
It might be a birthday, an anniversary or just one of those family meals where the adults try to have a conversation while the toddlers are crawling under the table, dropping crayons and making a break for the bubblegum machine.
And, of course, there has to be ice cream. I think ice cream is one of God’s best blessings. I often think we should eat it before the meal.
What makes me smile is the holy chaos of it all — chasing a toddler grandchild down the restaurant aisle, finding the bubblegum machine and hearing, “Poppa, can I have a gumball?” Of course, I first ask my daughter if it’s OK. Then I happily pop in the quarter.
If I leave the restaurant with ice cream smeared on my white shirt because one of my granddaughters climbed onto my lap and snuggled into my arms, I figure that’s a pretty good day.
That’s where I’m learning to find God — in sticky fingers, belly laughs, ice cream smiles and the holy mess of family life.
I like to call it street-level spirituality: finding God in the ordinary moments of daily life.
Joe Borek; Unsplash
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
What “nonspiritual” activity have you found to be quite spiritual, after all? What quirky proclivity, out-of-the-way interest or unexpected pursuit refreshes your soul?
One of my favorite “nonspiritual” activities happens when I get to our cottage up north.
After I’ve helped my family unpack, I head toward Lake Michigan, kick off my shoes, and stand at the edge of the water. The waves roll in and out. The sky stretches wide. And because I can’t see the other side of the lake, something inside me gets quiet.
It’s not dramatic. No angels show up. No choir starts singing.
It’s just me, the sand, the water and the sound of the waves breathing against the shore.
Standing there, I remember I’m not the center of the universe. I’m not in charge of everything. I’m not the whole story.
I’m small.
And somehow, that feels life-giving.
After a few moments, I step into the shallow with my bare feet. I bend down, cup my hands and scoop up some of the cold lake water. Then I splash my face with water three times.
No ceremony. No formal words. Just water. And somehow, it feels like grace.
For those few moments, I let the lake wash off the world — the noise, the stress, the worries I’ve been carrying and my own type-A need to manage, fix, control and figure everything out.
The lake doesn’t ask me to perform.
It simply receives me.
That’s the surprise I keep relearning. Sometimes the doorway to God is a church. Sometimes it’s a chapel.
And sometimes it’s Lake Michigan licking your toes while you remember you’re a drop in the water, and maybe, in some mysterious way, the water itself.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness; every human, too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re all broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite, and how do you confront its power?
My kryptonite is the deep-down fear that I don’t measure up.
It started when my father died of cancer when I was 17. For years, I brushed off his death. Told myself it wasn’t a big deal. Suck it up. Keep going.
That’s what my dad did. He was a John Wayne type. A good man. A hard worker. But not someone who talked about feelings. As cancer took his life, he sat quietly in his chair. So I learned to suck it up like my dad.
Years later, as I raised a family, worked as a lawyer and felt overwhelmed by life, I realized I was still looking for my father’s blessing. The blessing some sons receive from their dads: “You’re enough. I’m proud of you. You’re my beloved son.” I never really got that. Even now, at age 67, when I see a father and son sharing a meal, I feel jealous. Sometimes angry.
I’m learning not to shame that ache. I bring it to God. I get honest.
And in an upside-down way, my dad’s death opened a doorway. God became my go-to Dad, a Father who whispers: “You are my beloved.”
That’s how I confront my kryptonite. I stop pretending I’m over it. I let the ache speak.
Sometimes in quiet time, I hear my dad and God whisper in my heart: “You are my beloved son, in whom I’m well pleased.”
I’m still working on believing that. But somehow, I know it’s true for all of us. We are God’s beloved.
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your current obsession? And why should it be ours?
My current passion is helping people move from knowing about God to experiencing God.
I grew up going to Christian schools, and I’m grateful for that. For most of my life, I believed in God. But believing in God and experiencing him aren’t always the same thing.
For years, I had lots of good ideas about God. But I wanted more than ideas. I wanted a relationship. A God I could talk to when life got hard. A God who listens, guides, nudges, comforts, challenges and becomes real in ordinary life.
That search led me to the Christian contemplative tradition — an ancient stream of wisdom rooted in Jesus, the saints and the mystics. I’ve come to call that stream divine flow: learning to quiet the mind, open the heart and live more fully in God’s presence.
I wondered, Why did we grow up learning about God but not learning how to experience him?
That question became a fire within my belly.
Through books, retreats, workshops and a nonprofit called Divine Flow Lifestyle, I provide people with practical tools to notice God’s presence in everyday life.
In “Finding Flow,” I explored my pathway of discovering the contemplative tradition and the four pillars of wholeness. My new book, “Divine Flow,” shares how ordinary people are integrating those pillars into their lives.
That’s my passion right now — helping individuals and the church recover its contemplative heart so we don’t just believe in God. We experience God.
My free 10-Day Plan to Quiet Your Mind and Experience God’s Presence is a great place to begin.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Whether we’re cashiers or CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need God’s love flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
The Holy Spirit invigorates my work through morning quiet time.
When I was in my early thirties, I attended a mission at our church. One presenter was a retired attorney named Brian. During the mission, something kept stirring in me. I couldn’t explain it, but I felt a deep invitation in my heart.
So I asked Brian, “How do I learn to experience God?”
He told me to develop a practice of morning quiet time. Set the alarm 30 minutes earlier. Create a small space at home. Light a candle. Pour a cup of coffee. Sit in the quiet. Listen.
He said my mind would wander. But he told me to give my mind something to chew on — a word, a phrase or simply my breath. Over time, he said, my heart would learn to hear God’s voice.
Not audibly. More like a relationship. So I tried it. Thirty-plus years later, I still get up early, pour my coffee, go into my den and sit with God.
That quiet time has become the most life-giving part of my day. It’s where ideas come. My heart softens. I sense a nudge, a phrase, a next step.
How do I know it’s God? I experience the fruit of the Holy Spirit: peace, humility, compassion or courage. It doesn’t inflate my ego. It opens my heart.
That’s what I teach through divine flow — practice daily quiet time. Quiet the noise. Create space to be present to God and your inner self. Then let God’s love flow through your work and into the world.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied habits that open our hearts to the presence of God. So let us in. Which spiritual practice is working best for you in this season?
One spiritual practice that deepens my relationship with God and recharges my soul is what I call a monthly “God date.”
Years ago, when I was working 50-plus hours a week as an attorney, my wife and I were raising four kids, and life was moving faster than we could keep up with, my spiritual director gave me a simple suggestion: “Why don’t you schedule a monthly God date?”
I asked, “What’s a God date?”
She replied, “Just as you take time to be alone with your spouse, your best friend or someone you love, set aside time each month to leave the world behind and be present to God.”
So I put a God date on my calendar as an appointment with “JC.”
As the date gets closer, I ask God, “What do you want to do?” Sometimes it’s sitting by a river, listening to the flow of water. Sometimes it’s going to a quiet church. Lately, it’s been going to my cottage for a day or two by myself — to listen to music, write, pray, walk and simply be.
The monthly God date has become one of the most life-giving rituals in my life.
My wife notices the difference. When I come home, I’m usually more patient, more loving, more present. And if I forget to schedule it, she’ll ask, “When’s your God date?”
We all need time to restore our souls. For me, a monthly God date is how I brush the world off for a while and let God refresh, restore and recharge my soul’s battery.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Looking backward, considering the full sweep of your unique faith journey and all you encountered along the way, what top three resources stand out to you? What changed reality and changed your heart?
These three resources have shaped my faith journey.
The first is Richard J. Hauser’s book, “Moving in the Spirit: Becoming a Contemplative in Action.” Hauser helped me understand that the Christian life isn’t about trying to please God so God will love us. God already loves us. Our work is to learn how the Holy Spirit is moving in our lives and then respond. Hauser taught me the gift of discernment — how to notice what I now call “God nudges,” those movements of the Spirit drawing us toward what is most life-giving.
The second is Parker Palmer’s “The Promise of Paradox.” That book helped me see that life isn’t always either/or. It’s often both/and. Joy and sorrow. Gratitude and grief. Strength and weakness. When we hold life’s opposites, life becomes our teacher. We see what God is teaching us about loving more deeply, letting go and living with a more open heart. We gain wisdom.
The third resource isn’t a book. It’s my annual retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky, where Thomas Merton lived, prayed and wrote. Each year, I spend a week in the silence of the Kentucky hills, joining the monks for prayer, beginning at 3:15 in the morning. That silence helps me look back over my shoulder and notice where God has been moving in my life, how I’ve responded and where God might be inviting me next.
Those three resources have changed how I listen, how I pray and how I recognize God’s presence in daily life.
Certain things can be godsends, helping us survive, even thrive, in our fast-paced world. Does technology ever help you this way? Has an app ever boosted your spiritual growth? If so, how?
One app that has been life-giving for me is Pray as You Go.
Most mornings, I begin my quiet time by listening to the day’s episode. It includes meditative music, a daily Scripture reading and a simple Lectio Divina-style of prayer. The Scripture is read once, followed by a few questions and space to ponder. Then it’s read again, with another invitation to listen more deeply.
It takes about 10 to 12 minutes and helps me enter the day without getting buried under news, social media, email or my calendar. Instead, I begin with a rhythm of being present to God and my inner self before the day’s activities start piling on.
Instead of me jumping right into tasks or my own racing thoughts, Pray As You Go gives my mind and heart something holy to chew on. It keeps me rooted in the rhythm of the Christian church calendar and gives me a gentle doorway into silence.
After the episode ends, I sit in the quiet for another 30 minutes or more. I simply notice what rises up. It might be a word from Scripture. It might be a memory, a question, a conversation with God or just the gift of being still.
When people in my workshops ask, “How do I begin morning quiet time?” it’s often my go-to suggestion.
Pray As You Go is technology at its best. It doesn’t distract me from God. It helps me quiet the noise, listen more deeply and become present to God as the day begins.
QUESTION #8: dream
God’s continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
What’s stirring in me is the Divine Flow movement.
Over the past two years, I’ve gathered a group of contemplative leaders who meet monthly as the Divine Flow Vision Team. We’ve sat with one simple question: How do we help the church reclaim the contemplative tradition so people can move from an intellectual understanding of God to a living relationship with God?
The vision team has discerned this ancient stream of wisdom — the way of Jesus, the saints, the mystics and modern contemplatives — needs fresh language and practical tools. We call that stream Divine Flow.
Some people ask, “Is this New Age?”
I smile and say, “No, it’s old age.”
It’s returning to our roots.
Through our nonprofit, Divine Flow Lifestyle, we’re creating books, workshops, small-group resources, youth and adult materials, and certification training around the four pillars of wholeness: quiet time, spiritual reading, life-giving community and discovering our spiritual gifts.
Often, the task feels overwhelming. I bring my doubts and fears to God and say, “This is crazy. I’m starting a movement? I don’t even know how to handle my own life some days.”
What I keep hearing in my heart is: “Just take the next step. This isn’t your work. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit. Do the work and leave the results to God.”
That’s what I’m doing. One step at a time.
My prayer is that the Divine Flow movement helps individuals and the church recover the contemplative heart of Christianity — so we can quiet our minds and let God become the life-giving source of our daily lives. The One we cry with, laugh with, wrestle with, listen to, lean on and trust to guide us through both the beauty and heartbreak of ordinary life.
After the disciples returned from their first mission, Jesus told them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31, ESV).
Of course, we know how that ended — a crowd of 5,000 followed them, and Jesus ended up teaching them all day.
But his call remains: “Come away … and rest a while.” With him. What daily, monthly or annual rhythms help you cultivate this kind of rest with God?
Brian Plachta, J.D., MPC, is an author, speaker, spiritual director, pastoral counselor and former attorney. After nearly 30 years of practicing law, Brian heard a deeper calling: to help people move from simply thinking about God to experiencing God in everyday life. Through his books, retreats, workshops, daily reflections and street-level teaching, he offers practical tools for quieting the mind, hearing God’s voice and living with more peace, clarity, love and purpose. He’s the author of Divine Flow and Finding Flow. Brian lives in Michigan with his wife, Denise, where their grandchildren help him find God in Popsicles, sidewalk chalk and bedtime prayers.