So, if you know me, you know how much I love coffee. Like seriously love. I love coffee more that my ex-husband (which kind of goes without saying since he's an "ex"). I did one of those things at the end of the year on Facebook last year and "coffee" was the most used word in my status updates. I love the smell of it first thing in the morning and the way that it warms everything up on it's way down.
No, seriously. I love coffee this much. It's like a lover who never leaves. A best friend who never criticizes and always has time for you. This is my love for coffee.
And because my love of coffee is so deep and unrelenting, I made a decision. This Lenten season, I'm turning my back on it. My love of coffee should never become greater than my desire for a deeper relationship with my Creator. And my God came down and endured relentless trials and temptations. He was criticized, dehumanized and sacrificed. For me. What have I done for him? Not much to be proud of honestly.
If I want to be able to have a closer relationship, I realized I needed to understand sacrifice better. I needed to give up something that was so much a part of me. Something that was all wrapped up in pleasure and desire. And, for me, this is coffee. So, for 46 days, I vow to turn my back on my morning lover and practice turning to the lover of my soul.
I complain a lot about getting older. I'm not old by any means, but let's just say I'm closer to 40 than 30. However, I will say that my 30's have been so much better than my 20's. I'm much more confident. In my 20's the "confidence" was more bravado and recklessness. Now, it's more comfortable and assured. I think I like the latter much better. I don't care as much about what others think. (Not that I cared too much to begin with.)
I've gotten to see the world in all of its glory and wretchedness. And I love it all. It has added to who I am and how I view life around me. It has made me appreciate what I have and love people for who they are, where they are. I find myself judging less and less. And, even when I find myself starting to judge someone, I have a tendency now to catch myself and ask, "Why do I think I have the right to judge?" I have not walked a mile in their shoes. I have not had to make their decisions. Someone loves them. They are someone's child, father, brother, sister, mother, friend.
I've been around a fair number of 20-somethings lately. And, I've started to hear more and more bravado/insecurity-induced judgments being made. I've read it in blogs, heard it in class and just out wandering on campus. My one suggestion to everyone is, go out and see the world. Not the glossy front that places put on to hide reality, but the
real world. See how real people live and work and exist.
I love the quote from Mark Twain: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
Happy Travels!
