Nicole Johnson - Fresh-Brewed Life Revised and Updated: A Stirring Invitation to Wake Up Your Soul

Fresh-Brewed Life

Fresh-Brewed Life

A Stirring Invitation to Wake Up Your Soul

NICOLE JOHNSON

1999, 2011 by Nicole Johnson

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Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION. 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.

An exhaustive search was done to determine whether previously published material included in this book required permission to reprint. If there has been an error, a correction will be made in subsequent editions.

A Story to Live By by Ann Wells, 1997, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Johnson, Nicole, 1966
Fresh brewed life : a stirring invitation to wake up your soul / Nicole Johnson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-4002-0315-4 (alk. paper)
1. Christian womenReligious life. 2. Christian womenConduct of life. I. Title.
BV4527.J637 2011
248.8'43dc22

2011002745

Printed in the United States of America

11 12 13 14 15 16 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1

With fond memories of the classic story
Rip Van Winkle, which demonstrated that
its never too late to wake up

Contents

Introduction: Taking Your First Sip

Chapter 10 Enjoy Your Freedom

Introduction
Taking Your First Sip

Awake, my soul!

PSALM 57:8

I have come that they may have life,
and have it to the full.

JOHN 10:10

W ould you like coffee this morning?

There is rarely a morning out when this offer fails to bring joy to my heart. At home the first thing I do in the morning is put on the coffee. Just the sound of the brewing perks me up. Often my soul does a little dance when the aroma of freshly ground beans starts to fill the kitchen.

Coffee brings warmth and comfort to my life. Part ritual, part relationship, part hope, having a cup in my hand feels as natural as holding a pencil. It stirs up memories and gratitude inside me.

My grandmother Audrey introduced me to coffee. She would make me coffee-milk in the morning before anyone else got up. I must have been four or five, holding my current favorite stuffed companion and still sucking my thumb. I would pad, sleepy-eyed, into the kitchen, where the kettle was simmering. The only light in the room was the one on the stove, and my grandmother would be sitting on a stool next to the counter, sipping coffee. She would glide across the floor in green nylon slippers and fix me a little cup of coffee-milk. Sweet and warm beyond compare. Sharing a little cup became our secret ritual. I thought it was my reward for waking up early. She would pull a chair close for me, and we would talk for a bit. I felt very grown-up.

May you live all the days of your life.

Jonathan Swift

Years later would find me in junior high, sitting around a huge table in Alabama with my dads family, observing the coffee ritual, but not participating yet. I wasnt old enough. My fathers brothers and sisters need nothing more than a coffeepot for celebration. Okay, one of Grandmas caramel cakes helped a bit, but they would sit for hours with coffee and with one another. I would take it all in, learning what coffee meant to them: love, sharing, and connection.

Coffee is an invitation. When someone invites you to get coffee, it isnt because he or she is thirsty; more likely, that person just wants to spend time with you. Coffee calls us out of hiding. In the midst of our busy lives, we still manage time for coffee. When someone puts on a pot of coffee, people come from everywhere. It draws us out of our usual hangouts into the center of activity.

Coffee is also a universal welcome. It is readily available to all of us, rich or poor. Whichever country we live in or visit, whatever language we speakwe can always find a cup of coffee. Im figuring Ive had coffee in forty-eight of the fifty states and in at least fifteen different countries. The message is always the same: Here is a cup of friendship and warmth; you are welcome here.

People who dont even like coffee usually enjoy the smell and/or experience of it. I have friends who dont drink coffee but never pass up an opportunity to get coffee together. Although they order hot chocolate or a smoothie or some other beverage, they want to embrace the invitation to get together and sit for a while.

Coffee also offers a wake-up call. The coffee bean contains caffeine, a mild stimulant found naturally in the berriesand also found in tea and cocoa beans. In small to moderate amounts, caffeine can promote wakefulness and has been shown to increase brain activity (for short periods, not for life, unfortunately). Coffee can also produce feelings of well-being and greater awareness of ones surroundings. This makes sense to me, as I find I pay much closer attention when my eyes are open.

However I confess, in college, with too many papers and not enough evening, coffee played a different role. I sought to prove that more of a good thing would be better. It wasnt. In fact, this bad experiment cured me of using coffee as a stimulant because it had such an awful effect on my central nervous system. Once I had heart palpitations and anxiety that lasted almost twenty-four hours. So rest assured, Im not seeking to create coffee addicts. Besides, to take pleasure in coffee and benefit from all it has to offer, it must be savored, not merely consumed.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

Helen Keller

But my favorite characteristic of coffee is the deep metaphor it holds for life. The process of making a cup of fresh-brewed coffee has given me words and insight as to what has made a fresh-brewed life for me, and what can make a fresh-brewed life for anyone. The coffee part is fairly simple: a whole coffee bean goes into the fire, emerges richer and darker, is ground up into tiny pieces, and when hot water pours over those grinds, a magical aroma and flavor are released, and a remarkable drink is created.