Coffee, “Heaven” and Fruitless Branches

I’m currently re-reading John Oliver’s “Touching Heaven.” I recommend you go to this link, check out the book and BUY IT (Half.com has it too, I imagine Amazon does as well). It doesn’t matter if you’re Orthodox or not, just read it. If I read with a pen in my hand, I’d probably end up high-lighting every word. So many times I’ve been stunned by his writing, thinking “I’m going to post this quote on my blog!” only to come across another worthy quote in the next paragraph, and the next and the next. While I always enjoy reading about the lives of saints and the life of the Church, once in a while it’s nice to read about another mortal co-struggler, who is working out his salvation like the rest of us, day in and day out.

Thought I’d save some money by buying a bag of “expensive” coffee and making my own at home rather than visiting a coffee joint every day. Well, I just don’t have the “gift” for making coffee. Every pot I make tastes bad, and I can’t bring myself to finish it off. I’ve tried cleaning the coffeemaker, trying different grounds to water ratios, adding less cream, more sugar and vice versa. But it’s hopeless. Any specific coffee-making tips out there? Or am I just a hopeless java snob? Eek.

Aww man… A Wednesday just after the Apostle’s Fast ends…! Just as I grasp the concept that I can finally have meat/dairy again, it’s a fast day. Then again, it is only for a day… Tomorrow I can load up on meat again, and fast again on Friday. Hahaha! I love it. One thing’s for sure; what little asceticism I practice is certainly a match for my spiritual “fledgling” strength. Any momentary thoughts of superceding my obedience with grande, ascetic feats are always shot down with a humbling examination of my sorry, “fruitless branches.”
I can see how our spiritual life is really like a little plant, requiring only a little water and attention every day. The regime might seem a little “too simple” at first, when in fact the daily devotion of the routine proves quite challenging to our inattentive, complacent ways. It might take months or years of attention before we notice visible results. We might even need to start over a few times and replant the seed. But only once we’ve mastered this seemingly “simple” regime, can our obedience increase. But too much water for a tiny sprout can drown the plant; overwhelm it. And too little water and attention will, of course, cause the chute to whither and die. I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t either drowned their sprout with well-intentioned zeal, or forgotten about the plant altogether.
Fortunately, God is a little more forgiving than plants, as He always allows us to try again, starting from the ground up.


Update: Non-bloggers may post now, thanks to Paul III :) I might even go the extra mile and enable haloscan in the near future, but for now this is available for everyone!