Coffee Shop Faith

Woe to you when all men speak well of you.

Luke 6:26

My husband gets embarrassed to even say the words. They feel unnatural and silly falling from his lips. But because of his great love for me, he tosses a mumbled request out the window... 

"Uh can I get a venti caramel (what's the word again...oh yea) frappuccino. Uh, she wants it light, fat free, sugar free and all that stuff." He quickly punctuates the order with his low-maintenance drink, "Oh, and a tall coffee, bold and black."

The over-priced, specialty coffee shop brew doesn't hold the same allure for my husband as it does for me. He grinds the same beans, runs them through a similar coffee pot and each morning produces a near identical cup for pennies. I, however, can not get equivalent satisfaction at home. My pantry isn't stocked with flavorful syrup. My counter isn't adorned with a high-end blender. What I drink at home is a shadow of what I purchase for a price.

Sometimes my life is like that.

I argue with the girls on the way to church but pin a fake smile on just in time for the doors.

I teach a lesson on respecting your husband but make mine feel disrespected in the process with a story I share.

I purchase a spotless reputation but it's at a price. My real at-home brew doesn't come close to the high-dollar one I purchase with false perception. Yesterday we talked about praying bold brew. Today I want us to consider living bold brew. We can't just order a gratitude filled, grumble free life at a drive-thru window. We have to cultivate it one morning, one word, one choice at a time.

It may require organizing Saturday night to let Sunday morning breathe.

It might demand sacrificing a great story no matter how funny the punch line.

It will mean dressing up the cup of my heart with additives like morning whispers with God and afternoon thoughts of His wisdom. 

Then maybe the next time someone notices our coffee shop faith, we can proudly tell them it was home brewed.

Do you ever feel yourself pulled to pretend in public? What's one change you could make today to align your home self with the public one?