I’m a hot drink person.
Not SUPER hot – but I drink hot coffee throughout all seasons. To the point that I commonly have to correct the Barista when I order coffee in the summer and they prepare for me an iced drink . . . because, I clearly would not have ordered a HOT coffee when it’s 90º outside . . .
Oh, but I did, Mr. Baristo . . .
I love being outside in the morning. Camping, Walking, Running, Sitting. It’s just for me, the time I feel the most whole and alive.
Growing up going to summer camps I would get up early and find a place down on the dock or in the middle of the field to just BE in the morning.
I looked super spiritual because I would bring my Bible and Journal with me – but I never really read it. I just needed an excuse other than, “I can’t be a functioning human without morning air . . .”
Yes, that sounds just as ridiculous as I think it does . . .
So, there is a downside to this morning air business: I live in a moderately cold climate.
And I drink hot coffee.
Every morning, about 20 minutes into my morning air time, I reach down for a nice swig of hot joe and realize it has gone cold . . . and if I wait too long, the mug itself is cold!
I know they make thermos-mugs and stay warm all day mugs . . . but all I want is to use a regular coffee mug, in 30º weather – and for it to stay warm for an hour . . . c’mon universe . . .
The container matters – to how the contents handle the outside surroundings – doesn’t it?
My coffee mug that feels so great in my hand and lets me smell the coffee as I drink it is not made to handle cold surroundings. It has a wide opening and takes on the temperature around it.
I have 2 options:
1. Accept cold coffee2. Find a better container
Inside of me – inside of you – is the potential for something warm and beautiful! It’s life! Peace, Joy – the Spirit of a Living God. It’s creativity. Inside us is Love.
But, when the difficult environments surround us, it’s easy to forget that. It’s easy to let the warm grow cold.
I want to be tempered. I want to be a container of peace and joy that withstands the dramatic shifts of life, with the inside treasure left untouched, unscathed.
This is an intentional choice. The container is chosen before it is filled. What will I be made of?
I have to choose to be made of intentionality, peace, surrender. The insulation of a Creator-Redeemer God coming to hold my heart and protect me from the cold. The precious cargo of my soul remaining warm depends on it.
I refuse to let my soul grow cold. No matter how cold my surroundings get.
We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! (2 Corinthians 4:7-11ish MSG)
No matter what comes – The Redeemer Lives. Death surrounds, yet He Lives.
Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise! (2 Corinthians 4:15ish MSG)
I want to see more and more grace, more and more people in freedom, and more and more praise to the God who conquers the Cold.
byjenwaldron.com 