It's a cool, early November 1 morning, as I spent time in prayer and enjoying a hot cup of Kalinga Dark Coffee. Both of these habits I keep take time and effort to do, but, of course, it is all worth it.
I buy coffee beans from our suki store here in Bacolod - Little Farmers Coffee (found in SM, Lopues East and 888...bro Jay, free commercial!) They sell various blends of coffee beans from the Highlands of Benguet. Of all the varieties (around 10 or more), there is only one blend that I choose, and that's Kalinga Dark. It is a strong Robusta blend that my eldest son and I enjoy. And we chose this after tasting almost all of the varieties. But once we tasted this, we never shifted to any other blend.
Every morning I take a scoop and a half of beans, freshly grind it, and then use a dripper and eventually enjoy the strong and smooth taste of the coffee. By the way, I enjoy mine with a spoonful of honey just to add a little sweetness to it.
As I mentioned a while ago, it takes a lot of time and effort...but it's all worth it. Buying coffee already ground, or instant coffee, will be faster and more convenient. But there's nothing like the taste of freshly ground coffee of a specific blend...and it's worth all the effort.
It's just like prayer. It takes spiritual discipline to pray. I say "spiritual" because apart from the prompting and working of the Spirit moving me to pray I probably would not have a prayer time at all.
Just like choosing the right beans it took a lot of years of my life before I actually realized what a blessing it was to choose God above everything else the world has to offer. For coffee all I had to choose from was around 10 or more blends till I found the one I loved. With God you have the whole world to tend with, and apart from God choosing me and calling me to Him I would probably have never found Him at all.
And it is because of this grace that I find time every day to pray. And it takes time and effort. Time to worship, read His word, and then pray as the Spirit leads us to intercede for others. It takes a lot of effort to fight the temptation to do something else, check posts on facebook, answer texts or calls...
But it's all worth it. Spending time with our heavenly Father, enjoying the privilege of entering His presence through Jesus Christ our Savior, before anything else in the world - that's what we need to jump start the day and depend on the strength and power we need to live the Christian life.
The difference with coffee and prayer for me is this - with coffee it's my own effort that moves me to grind the beans and eventually drink the coffee. With prayer it's not my effort...I depend totally on the Lord calling me and drawing me to Him, remaining in Him so that I may bear fruit. My effort in prayer is simply responding to that calling and drawing, enjoying its fruit.
I can last a day without coffee (I think, hehe)...but I won't last a day without prayer.
But I thank God for both.
