Sometimes It Really Is the Little Things

I make my coffee the same way every morning. I put the same amount of whole beans into the grinder. I put a squeeze of honey into the bottom of my French press before adding the grounds. I wait the same amount of time after pouring the near-boiling water over the grounds and letting the coffee steep. But every so often, without warning, and without explanation, my morning cup of coffee tastes more delicious than normal. It becomes what I can only describe as a near sacramental experience that makes me incredibly grateful for every created thing and for my place in the midst of it all. I've learned not to try to replicate the incredible taste sensation the next day ... because it simply can't be done. However, weeks or sometimes months later ... again, the perfect cup of coffee makes an appearance in my mug.

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The same sort of thing happens for me with showers. Sometimes a shower is just glorious. Same water supply ... same shampoo and soap as always ... knobs turned to the same temps that I normally use, but there are some showers that just make me feel renewed and reinvigorated all over. The connection to baptism is not lost on me ... but it is has a much more homey feel to it than something so ritualized and solemn. It's like a walk in the rain without the mud or a swim in a crystal clear lake where there is no danger of leeches. It's hard to explain, but when it happens, I always find myself commenting: "That was the perfect shower."

And then, of course, there is what I refer to a "delicious sleep." As I age, sleep in any form is always to be valued. However, perfect sleep happens when every part of your body is comfortable, you can find the cool side of the pillow and it nestles under your head just perfectly, the room is the right amount of dark and quiet, and the covers are snuggled around you in a comfortable hug. Delicious sleep is usually in that place between absolutely dead-tired sleep and waking up, where you can remember your dreams and sometimes even control them. When you wake up from delicious sleep you feel satisfied, rested, and strangely comfortable with the world.

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I can't be sure, of course, but I think that G-d allows these experiences ... these deep moments with coffee, showers, and sleep ... to remind me that all of creation is sacred and all of it bears the fingerprints of the Divine. G-d has a way of working with the simple and ordinary, a manger in the least of the cities of Judah being, perhaps, the most striking instance. Sure I can recognize the Divine in majestic snow-capped mountains or in a glorious sunrise ... but, there it is almost too easy. Those sorts of experiences are full of grandeur and are writ large across the fabric of our lives. We're supposed to, it seems, recognize G-d there.

When it happen at my kitchen table because of a cup of coffee or when I recognize G-d's presence as I am just awaking from sleep, it takes on a much more intimate quality ... as though it were meant especially for me. And when it happens, it does make me much more aware of the multitude of ways in which all of my life is sacramental and the fact that there is an Incarnational quality to the whole of creation.

Sometimes, it really is the little things ... and, for me, anyway, sometimes those things are as seemingly mundane as a cup of coffee, a shower, or a good night's sleep.