For the next two weeks, I’m taking a rest from writing and am enjoying the holidays with my family. (Isn’t it good to rest from our normal routines?) But I have pulled up a few blog posts from the archives and have enjoyed tweaking them a little. I thought this was a good one to re-share with you, because the holidays and steaming hot beverages go together.

When Matt and I celebrated our 20th anniversary, we decided to add excitement to our marriage by doing something new.

So we determined to become coffee snobs.

Armed with a four-cup, $2 garage sale coffee pot and a small, budget-appropriate container of Folgers, we began enjoying what my grandma would refer to as a “morning cuppa.” But soon after our snobbery began, we were gifted with a bag of straight-from-Hawaii Kona blend. Caramel coconut.

If I believed in the ancient Egyptian practice of burying a dead person with items he could enjoy in the afterlife, I would request my next of kin please sprinkle that Kona blend around my body in my coffin.

Recently we were given a Coulter Coffee breakfast blend, and they somehow condensed a flannel quilt and crackling fire in the bag. The taste was so warm. I found myself waking up and craving that first cup of coffee.

So my friend was praying out loud at church last night, and she referred to Job 23:12 where he says:

I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. (NIV)

Then my friend prayed, “Lord, help us to love your words more than food -even more than our morning coffee.”

Did the people around me hear my audible gasp? Or did I just do that internally? What in the world? Do I love God’s words more than my morning cuppa?

I pictured myself slowly wrapping my fingers around a hot mug, sniffing deeply, and talking to the coffee, “Please coffee, make me happy.”

A caffeinated idol?

JOY, PEACE, and LOVE are the words of the season, and I know better than to think those things are found in 16 ounces, even if they include a double shot of espresso and whipped cream art. Yet my heart leans toward what is easy and smells good and can be made with my hands -a quick fix that only lasts until I see the bottom of the cup.

What we want is a bottomless joy.

I want a joy that keeps coming, like the way the waitress keeps topping off your cup if you go to our local Syke’s Diner.

Let’s wrap our hands around a leather-bound copy of the Bible. In the words of God and the time we spend with him, we will find the lasting joy, peace, and love our souls crave.