Reflections from a Coffee Shop

 

Reflections. 

Turning the calendar to a new year.

I take myself to my local coffee shop on a grey and humid last day of the year. Other than home, my favourite place to reflect, write, read, and think is a coffee shop. There's a general buzz and atmosphere in a coffee shop that delights my mind to think and expand.

Flipping to a fresh page in my journal I write four pages without pausing for more than a moment. The cup and saucer holding a peppermint latte is placed on my table and I thank the barista and enjoy little sips between pages.

Thankfulness arises, a hearty dose of it. Amidst any struggle or trial in the year, a path is always set before me to follow in the light and life of Christ, or go elsewhere into darkness and despair. My own life has had deep struggles enter in. The world around us has held a heavy dose of grim, but we can always choose to enter into the light of Christ. Our hope, the source of joy, and the forever we can hold close now.

As always, I turn to poetry to help articulate the thought. Lately, Emily Dickinson has been my go-to poet. I have a thick, heavy book collecting all her poems, which comprises 636 pages of her quippy short verses that always leave me with a contemplative mindset. This chunky book has been a permanent fixture on my dining table and desk, as it's so easy to flip open at random and read a poem. Her trademark dashes and capitalization is another features of her poems that causes me to pause and ponder. A unique talent so enjoyable to read and discover. 

Forever – is composed of Nows –
‘Tis not a different time –
Except for Infiniteness –
And Latitude of Home –

From this – experienced Here –
Remove the Dates – to These –
Let Months dissolve in further Months –
And Years – exhale in Years –

Without Debate – or Pause –
Or Celebrated Days –
No different Our Years would be
From Anno Dominies –

- Emily Dickinson

Happy New Year - may 2023 hold the forever in the close now.