13 Comments
User's avatar
Melanie Bettinelli's avatar

I love this story. I remember reading about medieval recipes and how they would be timed by the length of prayers... how many Our Fathers (or Pater Nosters as they were called in Latin) it took to say. So directions might be stir for two Paters and then boil for five Aves. Or you might be asked to recite a particular psalm.

Expand full comment
Lorrie Tom's avatar

That is so interesting. I never knew but it makes sense when there weren’t clocks.

Expand full comment
McCollonough Ceili's avatar

I love this story, Lorrie! I’m going to do the same thing and pray when my tea is brewing. Thank you so much for the inspiration. By the way, do you know of any free or low cost creative writing classes online that are good. Both my 16 year-old nephew, and I are looking into one for the summer.

Expand full comment
Stephanie Affinito's avatar

Oh, my goodness. I want one!

Expand full comment
Lorrie Tom's avatar

It’s so worth it!!!!!

Expand full comment
Jody L. Collins's avatar

Oh gee whiz, that photo! Such a history you have!

Your post is a sacred echo of something God has been speaking to me about my 'walking around life' as Eugene Peterson calls it, to make my life a living sacrifice and worship as I'm walking...whether to the grocery store, the laundry room or the kitchen sink.

As to 'if-then' prayers, have a copy from Every Moment Holy of the Liturgy for Morning Coffee by Doug McKelvey, I pray it often, as it's taped to the inside of my coffee cup cabinet :-)

"Meet me, oh Christ, in the stillness of morning..." is the first line.

So good!

Expand full comment
Lorrie Tom's avatar

Oh my goodness! I LOVE Every Moment Holy. I forgot about the coffee one which is also a favorite! Maybe reading that has also helped me internalize the IF-THEN triggers. I know there is a poem brewing in my head about what happens whenever I see an oriole in my garden (I pray for my sister-in-law who has since passed, but now I just think of her in Heaven and we have a sweet conversation.)

Expand full comment
Jody L. Collins's avatar

Oh I love that idea, Lorrie. ((we do not get orioles up here in Seattle; at least that I can spy in my garden)) what a gift.

Expand full comment
Lorrie Tom's avatar

Sacred echo! That is amazing. And sacred walking. A gift for us all. ❤️

Expand full comment
Stephanie's avatar

What a great story about your great grandfather and your morning ritual. I'm not a coffee drinker but most of my friends are and they treat their coffee drinking time as holy too.

Expand full comment
Lorrie Tom's avatar

Sometimes I worry that the power of coffee is way too strong. 🤣 I used to be an exclusive tea drinker just like the rest of my immediate family.

Expand full comment
Sheri Allen's avatar

You just have a way, my friend. I love this story!

Expand full comment
Lorrie Tom's avatar

Oh, thanks Sheri!!! Don’t ya just love that I wear my Xmas PJs way after the holidays are over? Ha ha. They’re just too soft to only wear for a short while.

Expand full comment