Sipping Serenity
The contemplative life isn’t confined to monastic solitude. Instead, it's a mindset.
The aroma of freshly baked bread hangs in the air. “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” by Stevie Wonder plays softly over the speakers. A father and daughter discuss her return to school this coming week and are working through her supply list to determine what she’ll need.
I take a bite of my tuna sandwich and it’s scrumptious.
It feels like a typical Saturday afternoon at Panera Bread in a St. Louis suburb. It’s also a pretty good representation of why I’m not inclined to get on board with Joshua Becker’s “make your coffee at home” mentality.
Not that I don’t make my own coffee at home; I do. But I also buy coffee at places like Panera because of the atmosphere. It engages all five senses.
Could my senses be engaged at home? Sure. But I want different experiences. And I’m willing to pay for that.
I think it’s because it makes me feel more alive. Oh, and it gives me fodder for writing.
A grandmother, mother, and two children sit down at a nearby table, speaking Spanish. Dad helps the two kids with the juice machine, wiping their arms after their cups overflow. Grandpa takes a seat at the head of the table and begins holding court.
I’m encouraged by what I see here. Two tables, two involved dads, and even a grandfather. They could be doing a lot of other things, but here they are with their families, doing dad things.
Half an hour later, I ran inside a nearby Target and bumped into the first dad who was helping his daughter buy school supplies. The self-check-out line was 20 people deep but that didn’t deter him (the way it did me). Better yet, he wasn’t rushing his daughter.
Later, I thought about why I like to capture snapshots of life like this, beyond the fact that they smash stereotypes and inspire me. They offer a way to contemplate life in a way that isn’t confined to monastic solitude or a set of rituals. Instead, they remind me that contemplation is a mindset – a way of savoring the little nuances of life and finding inspiration in the ordinary.
August Spotlight
God has called you to fly solo — at least for now. Make the most of it.
Never-married Christians over the age of twenty-five have many unique challenges. We struggle with the way we are perceived, both inside and outside the church. We wonder if God plans for us to remain unmarried our entire lives, and if he does, how we will ever make it. And, in recent decades, we’ve even been caught in the courtship vs. dating crossfire.
In this 30-day devotional, Lee — himself a never-married 50-something — walks you through these issues, and more, exploring what the Bible has to say, using humor, honesty, and an encouraging tone.
Here are some tidbits you might find interesting this week:
Did you know that I post many of these weekly articles on Medium? I’d love it it you would give me a follow over there.
I had no idea about any of these factoids about Iceland.
Loved this setup by Sara Hagerty to her solution: “Life isn’t getting quieter or simpler. My fight for margin feels like it requires fisticuffs, not a pencil on the page of my planner. And I’m just as at-risk of drowning in the soul as the CEO who works 70-hour work weeks.” Her solution? A productivity fast.
I had a conversation with someone the other day about how much I’d love to have a screened-in porch. I plan to make it a priority in the future.
“I believe that the first step towards becoming a writer is becoming a reader, but the next step is becoming a reader with a pencil. When you underline and circle and jot down your questions and argue in the margins, you’re existing in this interesting middle ground between reader and writer.” -Austin Kleon
When Lee isn’t writing essays, devotional books, or Christian fiction, he is a freelance editor, as well as a freelance journalist who has written hundreds of articles for various newspapers and magazines. He’s also a fan of NASCAR, baseball, tennis, books, movies and coffee shops.