Coffee?

Early morning usually finds me at my desk reading the Bible, moving on to a little study and research before attempting to write the blog post; this common start to my work day routine. This morning, however, I felt distracted, a bit discombobulated and unstructured. Monday mornings typically find me raring to get back to it, revived from the weekend off I’m ready to hit the ground running…or writing, as the case may be. Not so this morning. Being the analytical sort, I pondered this dilemma a few minutes, asked the Lord to help me get it together, and then all but disregarded the holy tap on my shoulder that came with the instructions to ‘consider the coffee.’ In all fairness to my disregard, let me say I do not consider anything until I’ve imbibed my morning coffee so I was fairly certain this was my minds way of telling me I was not fully caffeinated. I poured myself another cup and proceeded to clear off my desk.

Not being concerned with either my desk or my disregard, the holy tap on the shoulder returned and once more I received instructions to consider the coffee. Don’t know where this is headed but it came with the tap so I know God is taking it somewhere. Let’s sit back, take another sip and see what He shows us.

Last fall I wrote a posting called: Coffee: The Life Lesson. In it I explored how our spiritual lives can become ineffective by miniscule deposits of ungodly behaviors like the mineral deposits do to the interior of the coffeemaker; rendering our spiritual walk as weak as coffee made with luke warm water; tasteless with poor quality. This morning, I made the coffee from freshly ground whole beans. I was out of the ground coffee, so I pulled out the stash of whole beans, set the grinder setting somewhere between medium strength and espresso and let it whirl! The end result was a full bodied brew with depth of flavor and one satisfied coffee lover. Why, I asked myself, do I not do this every morning? Ah, let’s consider the coffee!

Stumbling into my darkened kitchen each morning I make the coffee before doing anything else. It’s far easier to grab the canister with grounds ready to go than to assault my waking senses with the noise of the grinder, so I do. Sad, isn’t it, that I use the whole beans as my backup plan when I run out of the easy stuff?

As a serious coffee drinker I had made a point of reading Consumer Digest to learn which brand of coffee ranked #1 in their flavor tests; testing it myself I found it to be wonderful. I talked to the grocery person in charge of ordering coffee where I shop because it was hard to get regularly and have shared my new found knowledge and satisfaction in this brand of coffee with anyone that will stand still long enough to listen. I have experienced my own custom blend, fine expensive coffee, really pitiful excuses for coffee and everything in between. I know what I like and what I consider substandard. The coffee of choice for me is not expensive but well balanced, full bodied and satisfying depth of flavor. Having gone to that much trouble, one would think I would make the most of it….yet I settle for good when I could have better. The cost is the same. The pre-ground coffee is very good…the freshly ground is far better. I am only cheating myself when I settle for less than the best it has to offer.

Looking back, I can see where I did the same thing in my relationship with God from time to time. It’s quicker and easier to go with the ‘prepackaged’ spiritual walk that requires less of us. It’s better than no spiritual walk at all, I suppose, but far less than the full bodied, flavorful walk of depth that comes from doing the inner work, spending the time. We can go to church, attend class here and there, do our perfunctory prayer time and get to know OF Jesus but that is not the same as sacrificing self to personally KNOW Jesus. The cost/price He paid was the same regardless. You know, when I took the freshly ground coffee out of the grinder, the beans were warm and fragrant from the grinding process. This made the difference in the depth of flavor and consequently the satisfaction it brought. Perhaps we should take a lesson from the coffee bean and be willing to go through the grinder, asking God to change us to a more usable form that allows our relationship with Jesus to be warm and satisfying instead of just utilitarian.

I know the holy shoulder tap got me attention and I will never look at the effort it takes to seek after the best in the same way. It makes more sense now…considering the coffee.