Sipping Serenity

The contemplative life isn’t confined to monastic solitude. Instead, it's a mindset.

Photo by Pedro Forester Da Silva on Unsplash

The aroma of freshly baked bread hangs in the air. “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” by Stevie Wonder plays softly over the speakers. A father and daughter discuss her return to school this coming week and are working through her supply list to determine what she’ll need. 

I take a bite of my tuna sandwich and it’s scrumptious. 

It feels like a typical Saturday afternoon at Panera Bread in a St. Louis suburb. It’s also a pretty good representation of why I’m not inclined to get on board with Joshua Becker’s “make your coffee at home” mentality.

Not that I don’t make my own coffee at home; I do. But I also buy coffee at places like Panera because of the atmosphere. It engages all five senses. 

Could my senses be engaged at home? Sure. But I want different experiences. And I’m willing to pay for that.

I think it’s because it makes me feel more alive. Oh, and it gives me fodder for writing. 

A grandmother, mother, and two children sit down at a nearby table, speaking Spanish. Dad helps the two kids with the juice machine, wiping their arms after their cups overflow. Grandpa takes a seat at the head of the table and begins holding court. 

I’m encouraged by what I see here. Two tables, two involved dads, and even a grandfather. They could be doing a lot of other things, but here they are with their families, doing dad things. 

Half an hour later, I ran inside a nearby Target and bumped into the first dad who was helping his daughter buy school supplies. The self-check-out line was 20 people deep but that didn’t deter him (the way it did me). Better yet, he wasn’t rushing his daughter. 

Later, I thought about why I like to capture snapshots of life like this, beyond the fact that they smash stereotypes and inspire me. They offer a way to contemplate life in a way that isn’t confined to monastic solitude or a set of rituals. Instead, they remind me that contemplation is a mindset – a way of savoring the little nuances of life and finding inspiration in the ordinary.