The Comfort in the Little Things

I am a coffee lover. I enjoy everything about it. I love the way it smells, the way it tastes, the way it keeps me from doing harm to other humans throughout the day. You know, the little things. I also very much enjoy the brewing process itself.

I don’t brew my coffee in the same way most people do. I don’t even own a properly functioning coffee maker. I have a vast collection of brewing devices including a Coffee Siphon (which is more like a science experiment than brewing coffee), a French Press, an Aero Press, a Moka Pot, and a fabric filtering device I bought in the Dominican Republic. My go-to method, however, is the Pour Over.

Pour Over coffee is extremely simple to make. You grind your beans, place them in a conical filter over your carafe or cup, and pour the water over the beans. There is a little more to it than that, but it really is a very basic process. I follow the same routine, doing the same steps, in basically the same order, standing in the same spot, for the first 15 or so minutes of every day.

If just for those few moments, I breathed a little deeper and a little bit easier. Life made sense, if only for a moment.

This morning, as I was jumping through these very familiar and mundane hoops, I was extremely aware of how much I was enjoying the simplicity and familiarity of the process. There was a calm quiet in those minutes and a sense of predictability and control that I found comforting. I knew exactly what I was doing and I was absolutely certain to have a positive outcome. If just for those few moments, I breathed a little deeper and a little bit easier. Life made sense, if only for a moment.

I find it ironic that in a year that has been defined by a “Great Pause,” many of us find ourselves exhausted and struggling to catch our breath. Furthering the irony, this is the year 2020, which is used to indicate perfect vision, but this year hasn’t brought much clarity. Many of us are overwhelmed by the uncertainty and the sense of helplessness that accompanies it. We are incredibly inactive, yet we are anything but rested. It actually makes sense to me that we would find comfort in the little every day and ordinary things, the little reminders of when life made sense. To be honest, though, I think it’s more about the fact that in these little moments, we understand what’s going on and we have it under control.

It’s important for us to take the wins when and where they come, to find comfort in the mundane moments of controlled predictability. You know, the little things.

It’s important for us to take the wins when and where they come, to find comfort in the mundane moments of controlled predictability. You know, the little things. As I was finding solace in my coffee making moments, I was reminded of a comforting truth. Though I cannot control or understand all that is happening in the world around me, I serve the God who can. Colossians 1:16-17 reads, “For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” To put it in more basic terms, “He’s got the whole world in His hands!”

Our current reality is well beyond our ability to predict or control in more ways than I could even begin to communicate. We don’t know what God is doing, why He’s doing it, or why He doesn’t intervene to end the insanity, but we can know with certainty that He is doing something. He is without a doubt still in control. And, just as it is within my control to brew a good cup of coffee, we can trust that God will bring all things together for our good in His time if we put our trust in Him.