CHRIST IN WINTER:
Reflections on Faith and Life from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter…
The trailer on the bottom
of the TV screen said something about California getting ready to declare that
coffee is a cancer risk. I know no more than that. I don’t intend to follow up
to learn more.
That’s one of the great
things about being old: just because something is there to know doesn’t mean
you need to know it.
Another great thing is
that you can say: So what? I’m old. I’m going to die from something. It might
as well be while doing something I love, like drinking coffee.
When my father was in his
90s, the doctor told him he had to stop crossing his legs, because of
circulation problems. He said, “But I can’t drink coffee without crossing
legs.” He had his priorities.
Besides, it’s California.
They do all sorts of crazy things there. Probably just trying to get people to
stop drinking coffee so they’ll drink more wine. Also, as with almost every
health study, there are other studies that say coffee is good for you.
I know that any good thing
can be overdone. Dee Lemkau in her middle years realized she was getting
nervous and irritable. She counted up her cups of coffee one day. Twenty-two!
She was home all day. She liked coffee. When the pot ran out, she brewed
another. She said, “It was just a habit, taking that cup to my mouth. I had no
idea how many times I did it.”
Before it is a habit,
though, coffee is an acquired taste. When I dropped out of high school and went
to work on the night shift in the Potter & Brumfield factory, sitting in
front of a big bright light to test and adjust electrical relays, I began to
drink coffee out of the machine. The only choices were 20W-30 and 30W-30. [1]
But I needed to stay awake. I got used to it. I began to like it.
When we married, Helen
used cream and sugar in her coffee. No McFarland ever diluted a cup of coffee.
That contradicts the Commandment against adultery. She finally decided it was
just easier to drink it black. She has never looked back.
Coffee is known as “the
common cup of Methodism.” We don’t use wine in communion. We don’t use coffee
for communion, either, but we use it for community.
The main thing on a winter
morning is to have a cup of something warm. Maybe share a cup of
something warm. A cup of kindness will do nicely.
JRMcF
1] These are actually
viscosity counts for motor oil. You get the point.
Spoiler Alert: If you have
read this column in the last 3 months, all that follows is old news:
I tweet occasionally as
yooper1721.
The “place of winter”
mentioned in the title line is Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [The
UP], where life is defined by winter even in the summer! [This phrase is
explained in the post for March 20, 2014.] Having met and married while at IU
in Bloomington, IN, we became Bloomarangs in May of 2015, moving from Iron
Mountain, back to where we started,
closing the circle. We no longer live in the land of winter, but I am in the
winter of my years, and so I am still trying to understand Christ in winter.
Katie Kennedy is the
rising star in YA lit. [She is also our daughter.] She is published by
Bloomsbury, which also publishes lesser authors, like JK Rowling. Her latest
book is, What Goes Up. It’s published
in hardback, paperback, audio, and electronic, from B&N, Amazon, etc.
It’s neat; in writing
circles, Katie is no longer known as my daughter. Now I am known as her father.
Speaking of writing, my
most recent book, VETS, about four
homeless and handicapped Iraqistan veterans, is available from Amazon, Barnes
& Noble, BOKO, Powell’s, etc. It’s published by Black Opal Books.
Speaking of more writing,
the full story of how God tricked me into becoming a professional Xn is in my
book, The Strange Calling, published
by Smyth&Helwys.
Speaking of even more
writing, my book, NOW THAT I HAVE CANCER
I AM WHOLE: Reflections on Life and Healing for Cancer Patients and Those Who
Love Them is published by AndrewsMcmeel. It is available in paperback,
ebook, audio, Czech, and Japanese.
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