"SOMETHING SWEET WITH YOUR COFFEE"

These words were written in the front cover of a book my wife gave me called "A Cup Of Coffee At The Soul Cafe".

Since receiving and reading this book 12 years ago, I have really tried to be more aware of what is happening around me. In this book he says, "One of the saddest things that can be said of anyone is that greatness passed by, and they did not recognize it. 

And in the words of Henry David Thoreau:

The morning wind forever blows; 

The poem of creation is uninterrupted; 

But few are the ears that hear it.

Sweet continues: Every human being has at one time or another felt that morning wind blowing by; every one of us has been privy to that uninterrupted poem of creation.  Yet how many of our ears have really heard it; how many of our eyes have truly seen it? How many of us consistently snore through all the beauty of the dawning day?

Some reach the end of life and never realize the future they hoped for, some never pausing long enough to discover who they even are: 

Within my earthly temple there's a crowd;

There's one of us that's humble, and one of us that's proud.

There's one that's broken hearted for his sins,

There's one that unrepentant sits and grins.

There's one that loves his neighbor as himself,

And one that cares for naught but fame and self.

From much corroding care I should be free,

If I could once determine which is me!

Sweet ends the chapter with this illustration....

"The moisture of clay is the expression of the clay's receptivity to the potter's will. If the clay remains hard and refuses to allow itself to be moistened, the best potter in the universe cannot fashion a thing of beauty out of it. It will be a crusty clump of clay, unformed and unfashioned forever. And just like hard clay, our hearts can become hard and unresponsive.  In this state we can completely miss the purpose of our life. 

"Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been? I've been to London to look at the Queen. Pussycat, pussycat, what did you do there? I chased a little mouse under the chair." The cat was in the presence of greatness, but was completely distracted by a mouse.
Today I am praying for ears to hear in silence and eyes to see the unseen.