It is 1530 (3:30pm) and here I am finding myself brewing the coffee again. I say again as if I hate this part of the day, but that is far from the truth. The reality is that I love this. I love coffee, and I love that there is a set time in the day that locals here in Costa Rica have set aside to SIT and DRINK coffee.
America, take this on PLEASE, it’s called Cafecito, you’ll thank me later.
They use this as a time to step away from the work that they are in the middle of to meet and engage in community. In my opinion, it is a sabbath in its own sweet way.
Initially, our team would look at this time and rush through it. Not on purpose, but rather because that is the innate response that we have from America.
The GO-GO-GO response. Where we drink the coffee really fast, eat the cookies or pastries, and then find ourselves approached with the silent wondering of “what’s next” in our day.
We didn’t mean it in any offensive way, because this was our innate response, it has always been our normal. Personally, during our first week here I was still trying to understand the REST that could come out of this time.
Then quarantine hit, and we found it as a time for immense opportunity.
To not only sip coffee at a slower pace, but to intentionally sit with one another and listen.
We took this time to reflect on how one another’s emotional well-being was.
We took this time to listen to one another share stories about friends back home.
We took this time to allow for long silences as we processed hearing one another testimony.
We took this time to laugh and cry.
“We” took this time, but in all actually He took this time.
He took this time for us to see one another in a way that we would not ordinarily step into; because it felt “too slow”. Only in America would we call it that, because after experiencing it in this way it is obviously an afternoon recharge. Not because of the caffeine, but because of the people; His people.
Cafecito is a time that allows love and encouragement to flow from the space, centered solely around Him!
Thanks God!
Thanks for the reflection in the teakettle that we used for each afternoon coffee during this time in quarantine… thanks for the quarantine.
Thanks for the large wood table the six women that I’m with, were able to sit around comfortably, and share stories.
Thanks for the coffee, and the amazing man that delivered new bags of beans to us throughout our time in quarantine.
Thanks for Steph, for taking over the coffee making on the last day. You win.
And to think… I already called coffee Jesus’ Nectar.
Proof to point.
xoxo.
d & team bloom.
Love this! Praying for you! angie
Glad you have learned to appreciate Cafecito…next the siesta time.
I had wondered why it was quiet on your end. Pray you and your squad are refreshed and strength is renewed.
Yes, our world in America is way too much Go Go Go. We are trying to cut down on all the things we have going, but to do that, we have extra tasks to complete. I love the REST that your team was forced into by illness early on to reset and establish a new normal.