Every night before bed, I go to the kitchen and prepare the coffee machine for the following day. I’m a deep sleeper, and it takes me several minutes to wake up. (Unlike my husband, who springs out of bed like a jackrabbit and immediately starts talking—but that’s a topic for another time). I don’t like to talk first thing in the morning and prefer to operate on autopilot until I’m fully awake. I want my first cup of coffee as quickly as possible so the coffee gets prepared the night before, and at five a.m., all I have to do is pour the water and wait.
The nightly chore of pre-making the coffee is a mundane task—one that I do most nights a year. It’s one of those small tasks that only takes a couple of minutes, but it’s always been a chore I’ve rushed through—wanting to get it done as quickly as possible. We’ve all got dozens of tasks like this we do each day. Tasks like grooming, commuting, work, cooking, chores, and dog walking—the kind of things that happen day in and day out. And who doesn’t occasionally get bored with the monotony of it all?
I’ve often wondered how to make the most of the monotony because there is so much of it. The Bible suggests we can enjoy the mundane, and it’s a gift from God’s hand to be able to do so. Solomon wrote, “There is nothing for a person to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him?” (Ecc. 2:24). This passage has become one of my most frequent prayer requests; I ask God to give me the ability to eat, drink, and enjoy my work.
Lately, as I prepare the coffee, I do a mental inventory of the day and thank God for the good things I experienced. Another way to put it is—I tell Him my favorite things that happened that day. Here’s my list of my favorite things about yesterday:
1). I sat on the back porch with my dogs and enjoyed the cooler weather.
2). I texted back and forth about poetry with my friend Cristy.
3). I had a better-than-average writing day.
4). My 81-year-old Aunt texted me at 11:30 p.m. which I think is hilarious.
5). I finished reading Jayber Crow for the umpteenth time and continue to marvel at Wendell Berry.
You probably noticed there’s no outlandish event on this list. Nothing in my favorite moments is flashy, Insta-worthy, or even slightly glamorous. And get a load of this—you might go as far as to say these things are pretty mundane. And yet, these were my favorite moments of the day. We live in a world that celebrates red carpets, new releases, and flashes of glitter and shine. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with any of those things. But if you take a few days and pay close attention to the moments you love most, there’s a good chance you’ll experience your favorite moments in places you wouldn’t expect. You might even find them on the back porch or at the coffee pot.
In a typical day, where do your favorite moments usually happen? Do you know what they are? Why not try doing a mental inventory at the end of each day? Leave your thoughts in the comment section. We would love to hear from you.
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