I must seriously confess that throughout my life I have given in to habits and rituals. I don’t like to say that, but it’s the truth. At this point, I don’t know the difference between a habit and a ritual.
One ritual I have is when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is have a hot cup of coffee. This is what really gets me going in the morning. You don’t want to meet me before I have my cup of joe in the morning.
There was a time when I changed my habit and had hot tea in the morning. I thought it could be a different change in my life. Believe me when I say it was a change. You didn’t want to meet me after having my hot tea in the morning. In fact, I didn’t even recognize myself after that hot cup of tea.
Before we go to bed each night, the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage sets the coffee maker to turn off in the morning so that it is ready when I wake up. I’m not sure how many years he’s done that, but he did it today, and that’s all that counts.
There is something about coffee that boosts my energy every day. I don’t know what it is, but I agree as long as it does.
When I was young at home, I never liked coffee. Later I realized that it was because my parents used instant coffee. When I got the real coffee, I never went back to that instant coffee nonsense.
The other morning something different happened.
I got up in the morning, as usual, I went to prepare my coffee. I’m not really that awake at this time of day, but it’s a routine, and I just went through the routine of making my coffee and then going to my chair and having my morning devotions.
Everything went well until the Graceful Mistress of the Parish House entered the room where I was, stood there looking at me and finally said, “How is your coffee this morning?”
I smiled back and said enthusiastically, “This is the best coffee I’ve had all day.”
She smiled.
When he smiles at me, I know something is wrong. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong this early in the morning. Here I was, drinking my coffee, reading my Bible, and she comes up with these kinds of questions.
“So,” he said hesitantly, “is your coffee this morning normal?”
I chuckled and said, “I eat my coffee every morning.”
“Maybe you should look at your coffee again,” he said.
As I was looking at my coffee, it looked a little different. The coffee was whiter than usual, but that’s all I could see.
“Take a sip and tell me what you think.”
I took a sip, it was hot and didn’t notice any difference.
Maybe this is my problem throughout life. When I have some kind of habit and I go to a ritual, I don’t realize what is going on. Isn’t that what a habit is supposed to do?
“FYI,” my wife said with some sarcasm, “I forgot to put the coffee grounds in the pot last night. All you have in the pot is hot water.”
I laughed a hearty laugh. I looked at her, thinking, of course, that she was trying to trick me into doing something. Then he brought the coffee pot and showed me. Indeed, the water in the coffee pot was water and not coffee.
I did not know what was happening. I stared at her with a spirit of disbelief. I couldn’t understand what I did wrong.
She looked at me, her smile faded and then she confessed. “I forgot to put the coffee grounds in the pot. That’s why the water is clear. It was my mistake.”
For the kind lady of the parsonage, confessing a crime is a moment in marital history.
I stared at her for a few moments, not sure what to think, and then I burst into hilarious laughter. “So, I’m not going to have coffee this morning.”
Together we laughed for a few moments, then she returned to the kitchen and made the coffee again, and this time she didn’t forget to put the coffee grounds in the pot.
While drinking the real coffee, I pondered a bit on the subject. How many times do I do that kind of thing in my daily life? Maybe I am going through certain rituals and habits and I don’t realize that I am not really doing what I think I am doing.
Just like I thought I was drinking coffee, maybe there are times when I think I’m doing what God wants me to do, and maybe I’m not doing it, just doing the moves.
As I read the Scriptures that morning, I read: “This is a faithful word, and I want you to affirm it constantly, so that those who have believed in God will be careful to keep good works. These things are good and useful to men.” (Titus 3: 8).
Every day, my goal is to make sure that I am carefully doing what God wants me to do for His honor and glory.
