Watching the water, my eyes saw tiny bubbles forming along the bottom of the pot and soon those bubbles begot more bubbles that grew bigger and bigger until the pot of water became a circular dance of bubbles. As the water began to dance, the metal basket appeared to come alive as it puffed thin ribbons of brown from the holes in it's lid and streaks of color swirled through the water. The magical dance of bubbles and ribbons of brown continued until the once clear water was saturated with color and the crown atop the pot began to burble. Once I saw deep brown liquid fill the crown I knew the water-dance was complete and would happily announce, "it's ready" and then, sensing partnership with the magic I had witnessed, I would enjoy my Gramsy's pleasure as she poured her first cup of coffee.
More than fifty years after standing on a chair watching fire, water and ground beans transform into the magical elixir of coffee, I am deeply grateful to Gramsy not only for teaching me how to make coffee, but more importantly, for showing me what happened to me when twenty-five years ago I began setting my alarm and meeting the Divine on the patio for coffee and conversation.
When I first began setting my alarm for thirty minutes before the rest of the house awakened, my intention had nothing to do with meeting the Divine for coffee, my intended hope was to find some sanity in a small circle of quiet before my three sons age five and younger erupted from their beds. I won't go into the details of successes and failures before I accepted that life was simply more pleasant if I set my alarm, got out of bed when it went off and sat outside on the patio slowly sipping my coffee as the sky gently turned from black or grey into blue. For weeks, maybe months, I simply sat in the quiet, sipping coffee and watching the day be born. Slowly over time, I learned that when I did this simple act I was less irritable and cranky and tired.
How, I wondered, am I less irritable, cranky and tired when I had thought those attitudes were a result of being sleep deprived and I'm now, deliberately, getting less sleep? Hmmmmm, a mystery until I remembered the enchantment of the percolator.
Remembering those early mornings with Gramsy, I realized that in many ways, this little circle of quiet I deliberately carved into my morning was a new way of percolating my self into life. Percolating simply means that one substance is infused with another substance, such as coffee grounds infused with hot water, and the process transmutes into a new substance.
When I set my alarm and sat in the quiet, I was infusing myself w/the natural beauty of a day awakening. Trust me when I say quiet and beauty percolated a much nicer substance of "me" than did my old way of jumping directly into the fray of television news and noisy small boys. I liked being a more pleasant version of myself and so the alarm setting and throwing myself out of the bed habit went from three or four days a week, to a solid five days and eventually a daily routine. A routine that has remained a daily habit.
Sometimes when I share this story of getting up early each day for coffee and conversation with the Divine, people will stare at me and say 'you do that every day?!' I find this funny because actually all of us have daily habits ranging from automatically turning on the computer or television to sleeping, bathing, coffee drinking, work, Face Book time and a glass of wine with dinner. The only difference between those activities and having coffee with God each morning is deliberate choice: and choice creates our living. Which is what I discovered as I sat each early morning in stillness and quiet: my choices of action are the fire creating the pot of me to bubble and transmute into a substance of being.
So why a blog? Well, long story short, after years of coffee and conversation, one learns that relationships and conversations have a back and forth of listening and responding, even relationships with the Invisible Divine and sometimes one is nudged into action.
The first nudge I felt was the idea to do a blog during Advent and then I began thinking about gratitude because gratitude is, in my opinion, the most useful attitude of being and then I realized that tomorrow is the first of November which is the month of Thanksgiving and I hated to miss the opportunity to blog during a month devoted to thanksgiving and ....well, yes that's a long run-on sentence which is how it seems to go sometimes: bubbles and more bubbles heating into the enchantment of life percolating with the Spirit of God's love and goodness.
My intention when I was pondering an Advent blog was to do it daily but I have to admit that the idea of doing a daily blog before Advent is daunting, However, new challenges are always daunting and so, I will percolate as the Spirit moves me with the intention of doing at least three or four and week while building stamina to blog daily during the Advent journey. Comments are always appreciated if you feel moved to share your experience, strength and hope.
When I first began setting my alarm for thirty minutes before the rest of the house awakened, my intention had nothing to do with meeting the Divine for coffee, my intended hope was to find some sanity in a small circle of quiet before my three sons age five and younger erupted from their beds. I won't go into the details of successes and failures before I accepted that life was simply more pleasant if I set my alarm, got out of bed when it went off and sat outside on the patio slowly sipping my coffee as the sky gently turned from black or grey into blue. For weeks, maybe months, I simply sat in the quiet, sipping coffee and watching the day be born. Slowly over time, I learned that when I did this simple act I was less irritable and cranky and tired.
How, I wondered, am I less irritable, cranky and tired when I had thought those attitudes were a result of being sleep deprived and I'm now, deliberately, getting less sleep? Hmmmmm, a mystery until I remembered the enchantment of the percolator.
Remembering those early mornings with Gramsy, I realized that in many ways, this little circle of quiet I deliberately carved into my morning was a new way of percolating my self into life. Percolating simply means that one substance is infused with another substance, such as coffee grounds infused with hot water, and the process transmutes into a new substance.
When I set my alarm and sat in the quiet, I was infusing myself w/the natural beauty of a day awakening. Trust me when I say quiet and beauty percolated a much nicer substance of "me" than did my old way of jumping directly into the fray of television news and noisy small boys. I liked being a more pleasant version of myself and so the alarm setting and throwing myself out of the bed habit went from three or four days a week, to a solid five days and eventually a daily routine. A routine that has remained a daily habit.
Sometimes when I share this story of getting up early each day for coffee and conversation with the Divine, people will stare at me and say 'you do that every day?!' I find this funny because actually all of us have daily habits ranging from automatically turning on the computer or television to sleeping, bathing, coffee drinking, work, Face Book time and a glass of wine with dinner. The only difference between those activities and having coffee with God each morning is deliberate choice: and choice creates our living. Which is what I discovered as I sat each early morning in stillness and quiet: my choices of action are the fire creating the pot of me to bubble and transmute into a substance of being.
So why a blog? Well, long story short, after years of coffee and conversation, one learns that relationships and conversations have a back and forth of listening and responding, even relationships with the Invisible Divine and sometimes one is nudged into action.
The first nudge I felt was the idea to do a blog during Advent and then I began thinking about gratitude because gratitude is, in my opinion, the most useful attitude of being and then I realized that tomorrow is the first of November which is the month of Thanksgiving and I hated to miss the opportunity to blog during a month devoted to thanksgiving and ....well, yes that's a long run-on sentence which is how it seems to go sometimes: bubbles and more bubbles heating into the enchantment of life percolating with the Spirit of God's love and goodness.
My intention when I was pondering an Advent blog was to do it daily but I have to admit that the idea of doing a daily blog before Advent is daunting, However, new challenges are always daunting and so, I will percolate as the Spirit moves me with the intention of doing at least three or four and week while building stamina to blog daily during the Advent journey. Comments are always appreciated if you feel moved to share your experience, strength and hope.
