Is Drinking A Cup of Coffee A Spiritual Practice?
Many people are curious about what makes something a “spiritual practice.”
I like the definition shared by Rev. Joseph Stabile:
“A spiritual practice is any act habitually entered into with your whole heart that awakens, deepens, and sustains within you a contemplative experience of the inherent holiness of the present moment.”
Drinking coffee is a spiritual practice.
Feeding my cat and fish is a spiritual practice.
Sitting on the front porch paying attention to the earth beneath my feet and the birds at the feeder is a spiritual practice.
How can that be, you ask? That doesn’t sound very pious at all, and you don’t even mention words like “church,” “prayer,” or “God.”
Holding a hot cup of coffee in my hands for 30 seconds, breathing in the aroma, saying a gentle “thank you” for those who grew and harvested the beans and for those who got the beans to my local store, remembering my grandmother and great aunts who always had a large pot brewing…
Feeding the pets that I belong to, five minutes of paying attention to their needs, talking to them as I place the food before them, and thanking them for their love…
Sitting for two minutes on the front porch paying attention to the ground beneath my feet and the birds at the feeder…
Spiritual practices don’t have to be long endeavors; they can be brief, meaningful habits we engage in with our whole hearts that awaken us to the beauty of the present moment.