A Guest Post from a Reader in Scotland
Meeting a dear friend for that promised coffee… or using the spare time for private prayer? Given the choice on a given day I’m all too aware of which I would naturally plump for! Despite relishing the notion of disciplined prayer, the opportunity to enjoy a cup of hot, frothy coffee laced with companionable conversation is so appealing that “formal prayer” gets pushed further down the queue. And if I’m brutally honest, it’s all too often relegated to the end of the day.
Roger Ellsworth’s My Coffee Cup Meditations is a set of slim books which offers a neat, practical solution for people like me whose spirit is willing… but oh, the weakness of the flesh! These books are a springboard to Christian prayer—an excuse to meet God every day, albeit with that all-important coffee! God, who satisfies the deepest longings of our hearts, is always waiting for us. It doesn’t matter how or where we meet Him; what matters is that we meet regularly. These short reflective essays lend themselves admirably to initiating a natural conversation with Him in our own homes, in our own time, and in the midst of all our chores.
I usually select a book at random, read a chapter, close my eyes, and sit silently, coffee cup in hand, asking God to join me. Soon I will feel Him right there beside me. Of course I know He’s always there, but this is our special time, together, and He knows how much that coffee motivates me! Sometimes He’ll speak to my heart; at other times I’ll tell Him all about my day. With anyone else I’d worry about being too talkative or too focused on myself, but I know I’m dear to Him and that He really doesn’t mind.
These readings place us quietly but squarely in the presence of God.
Prayer consists not in thinking much but in loving much (as St Teresa of Avila once wisely said), and it’s really the practice that counts rather than the theory. A daily pause for reflection with spiritual readings such as these, places us quietly but squarely in the presence of God. We may occasionally need to flick away distractions, but our loving Saviour who delights in us will surely do the rest.
Guest Blogger Farifteh (Frith) Robb, a former lecturer and midwife, lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. Of Persian heritage, she became a Christian in Iran. Her autobiographical book Unexpected Grace: A Life in Two Worlds was published by Great Writing Publications in 2017. Image “Coffee in Edinburgh” by the author.