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My daily haunt is a little coffeehouse smack dab in the
middle of my college town. The building is made to replicate the cafes of old,
with giant brass espresso mechanisms, cracked bricks, old bicycles, and creaky
wooden floors. Like most folks, the fragrant aromas of coffee and chai draw me
from the “world outside,” in which I live life as a disheveled undergrad, to the world of “coffeehouse,” in which I am instantaneously at
ease.
I think this is an atmosphere of peace. Everything, from the consciously chosen mood music, to the continual bombardment of herbal fragrances on our persons brings some semblance of calmness to each of our senses. It is all meant to
produce a micro-environment of peace so as to draw our busyness out of life…
and maybe turn a profit.
It’s funny how we as people can invent our own version of
pseudo-peace. We crave this quiet environment now more than many other sources
of sustenance. Life is loud, and our worries are urgent. To cloister ourselves
in a giant coffee box from the constant upheavals life tends to throw at
us is now a viable business model.
Peace is commercial. Peace is consumable. Peace is now
“supply and demand.”
Don’t get me wrong, I love the social possibilities coffee joints offer to us as communal beings. A warm drink and a strong sense
of comfort have been of utmost importance in many powerful interactions,
revelations, and epitomes in this short, idealistic life of mine. I’m not
attacking the coffeehouse industry itself, nor am I leveling anything at any
individual shop. Instead, I feel it important to examine why I, and so many
others, manufacture peace as a commodity.
There is no command more repetitive in Scripture than “do
not fear.” In fact, those exact words are used nearly 365 times throughout both
Testaments. For the Christ-inclined, life is meant to be in a constant state of
anti-worry. Lack of restraint gives birth to life in its fullest, most
meaningful form. Faith in God and trust in humanity save us from fear.
I’m sad that I forget this so often. I’m sad my
consumptive, anesthetized culture draws me away from the satisfaction and
contentment that is produced from living for others. And, most disappointing of
all, I’m sad we settle for peace in consciously constructed environments.
Find peace in who you are, and in who God made you to be.
It’s never bad to be active, but life isn’t about doing every single task in existence you can
before you die. It is instead about doing the small things for others that build upon
themselves until they crash into society as a giant wave of contagious love. There you will find peace everywhere you go. You no longer have to
rely solely on a coffeehouse for your soul’s refreshment.
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