RITUALS AND RECOGNIZING GOD’S VOICE.

Are you ritualistic? I am.

No! I’m not talking about religious rituals of course.

I guess we all are ritualistic in some way or the other.

Every morning I have a way of making fresh coffee. And mind you, I have mastered the art with great efficiency. Well, you may say that you yourself could do a better job. Amen to that! But this is my cup of coffee and I like it ground and brewed the way I like it!

And I do not like to be disturbed when I am in the midst of these rituals.

The sound of the grinder is a different music to me early morning. The aroma that comes and fills the kitchen is something else altogether. And then I have learned the extreme patience to wait four minutes to let my coffee soak in hot water…not boiling…but here’s a secret I will tell you…I’ve the uncanny skill to judge when the water in the kettle is at 83 degrees Celsius.

After four minutes, the rich brew is something else! It enlivens me!

Then I have a special cup in which I drink. No one is allowed to use that!

And the second ritual is almost simultaneous. It’s a self-learned culinary art I have developed to perfection over all the years. You may call it a quarter-boiled egg. It’s not just quarter boiled…its somewhere between quarter and half-boiled actually. I call it, ‘my kind of egg’. After I have thoroughly washed the egg shell, (and you must do that), I know the exact level of water the vessel must have, and the right level of flame on one of the four burners in our stove. When the water gets to boiling, I wait exactly 90 seconds! Then remove the egg. Cool it down under the tap. Then peel it carefully. And finally put it in my bowl, with just the right amount of salt.

And voilà! I’m done.

Then I will sit at my favourite sofa, with my feet on my favourite footstool, and my Bible on my lap. Here is my favourite way to begin the day. Sipping richly brewed great coffee, nimbly spooning my egg at times, and reading my Bible with boundless joy!

It is here that God speaks to me. In the midst of my rituals. In the midst of my favourite things every morning.

And hey! Try it out your way!