Pipes, Coffee, Tea, and Thee…

Coffee and tea are good for the soul. I was once asked to explain this statement, and found that I can not put it into words. However, anyone who knows me knows that I believe this statement with all my heart. I prescribe tea when people are sick, having a bad day, or feeling spiritually dry. I am always up for coffee, and usually require two to three cups to achieve “optimal thinking level”. There is just something about imbibing a warm beverage that draws us into the divine embrace.

I feel the same way about my pipe. People have had a myriad of reactions to my smoking indulgence, but I usually pay it no mind. It is good for my soul to slow down and have a pipe full with my Lord. (J.S. Bach wrote a poem about it.)

Coffee, tea, and my pipe all tend to slow down my day… and in the stillness I find it easier to pray, more natural to converse with the Almighty. I find my self slipping into listening when my mind slows to a leisurely meandering. I find the truth in “be still and know that I am God.”

I need times of slowness and stillness… I need to have space to cultivate a listening heart, space for God. Prayer is were I always lack, because I am slow to learn and quick to fight. I will rant and espouse my needs, my desires, my hurts, and my take on truth. And the Father is kind enough to listen and wait for me to finish, even if I don’t give Him room to talk. He knows that I am egocentric, arrogant, and full of my own B.S. So He whispers in my ear about coffee, and my craving is stirred… both for the drink and for time with Him. Other times He reminds me of the scent of tobacco burning lazily as I puff away, and I yearn to send my prayers up with that fragrant smoke.

So I praise God for my pipe, for coffee, for tea, for sunsets, for drives in the quiet night, for trees, for mountains, for rain, for walks in the morning, for candles, for beer, for my guitar, for empty journal pages, for stars, for fire places, for winter nights, stormy skies… for in these I am still and I find Thee.

Sorry, I got nothing.