Coffee Thoughts

A few years ago some FBCP women did a summer Bible study together. The major theme was moving toward God through positive attitudes. It seemed simple enough. However, we would start out talking about having a positive focus and pretty soon we’d be locked in an intense discussion about where God’s will stops and our sin begins. It amazed me then and continues to now how we try to study one aspect of the Christian walk and we keep bumping into all the same old stuff: God's will, His infinite mercy, His love vs. His sovereign law.

I was mulling this over when I pulled up to the Starbucks window around that same time, and I bought a cup of coffee, which isn't notable, except that they had just started printing quotes on their to-go cups. The one I found on my cup was from fashion designer Todd Oldham who among other things said: "An open, non-judgmental mind is the best tool for brewing creativity." I drove along sipping my coffee and thinking about Todd. His most recent creative contribution, besides apparently a book also mentioned on the cup, was a collection of sixties mod furniture for, of all places, La-Z-boy. I started feeling a little guilty because here Todd had said I wasn't supposed to judge and, not a minute later, I was thinking how tacky his furniture was and how his agent must have had a hard time getting him the coffee-cup gig.

That's when a thought hit me so hard that I almost stopped the car. I disagree! I disagree with Todd and the whole Hollywood line that suggests that a complete lack of boundaries fosters creativity. I think creativity grows best from within limits. Why do you need to be creative if you can just do whatever you want? And furthermore it seems to me that being creative is one of the best ways in which we reflect God's image. He's the Creator, and so we create. Consequently, it stands to reason that we would be most creative when harnessing ourselves within the bounds of God's law. And there it was. God’s law. I bumped into it again.

It’s an exciting time to be a woman at FBCP because your Women’s Ministries leaders are exploring their powers of creativity on your behalf. It’s easy sometimes as women to get trapped in thinking only of our limits: Too little time, too little money, too busy with work, too burdened by family, too little family, or what have you. The stage-of-life divisions of modern churches serve many fine purposes, but they also highlight our differences rather than our commonalities. Into this gap jumps your fearless Women’s Ministries team bringing you, among other options, the Women’s Retreat, Let’s Do Lunch, and The Walk, our revamped newsletter. They know that whatever divergent paths God has put us on individually, we all still need a to take a regular break, to eat lunch, and to know what’s going on.

This blog is another idea. It’s a monthly email in your inbox: an attempt to find God in and through all of our divergent paths. We offer it as an experience we can all share that won’t tax the already overstuffed calendar or the under-stuffed billfold. Hopefully it will be an encouragement that doesn’t add to your to-do list. Contributors will include Chaun McGuire, our newsletter editor, and me, Ginger Myers. Pat Evans has graciously allowed us to dip occasionally into her Honey for a Woman’s Heart. Hannah Evans continues the graphic design. We love feedback, so send us your own creative, caffeine-induced ideas.

If your coffee cup can add meaning to your life, won’t God mercifully do the same and for greater impact? Whatever teeny moments we give Him he will multiply long after the caffeine buzz has worn off. So grab yourself a cup of coffee or whatever else you prefer and enjoy the perks of being an FBCP woman.

And watch out for that to-go-cup theology. It’ll burn ya–no pun intended.