This past spring I had cold brew coffee for the first time. I thought I’d look into how to make it because I love coffee, but hate drinking hot coffee in the summer. It’s already hot enough, I don’t need hot coffee heating me up too. I found out that it is super easy to make, but it takes time. I decided that it was worth a shot to make on my own. Now before you go on thinking I’m a coffee snob that has all these fancy ways of making my coffee, I buy my beans at Aldi (better than Starbucks in my opinion). The process starts with me grinding up the beans. I dump them into a half-gallon mason jar and fill it with water. This is where the time consuming part comes. I let the grinds soak for 24 hours. After the 24 hours pass, I filter out the grounds and put the concentrate in the fridge.
This past week I’ve been drinking hot coffee. I ran out of cold brew and had such a crazy week that I didn’t have time to make it. There were some nights I could have started it, but I wouldn’t have been able to filter the next night. There were nights I had time to be able to filter, but I didn’t have time the night before to start it. As much as I wished there was a shortcut when I was drinking hot coffee this week, there just isn’t.
Sometimes I find myself wanting shortcuts with God. I want to instantly have this close relationship with Him. I want to not have any quiet times in a week and then instantly feel just as close to God. There are times at church where I will be praying that God give me a word and He will respond, “This is the first time you’ve talked to me this week, do you really expect that?” It’s just like the cold brew, it takes time.
I also find myself wanting shortcuts in life. I’d love for this blog to have hundreds of readers, but this is also silly to think when this is my first new post in almost a month. Habakkuk 2:3 says,
“This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.”
I think we all have a grand vision of where we want to go in life. If you are anything like me, you can be impatient for it to come to pass. Yet God tells us to be patient, even when it seems like its been a long time coming.
The process of cold brew is a reminder that some things are going to take time. And just like cold brew coffee, the process is worth the effort. It is so satisfying in the end.
until next time…