Quiet Amidst the Chaos

July 11, 2022

I’ve got a great place at home to do my writing. I’ve got a table to spread materials out on. I’ve got a comfortable chair. My wife knows to not talk to me unless I’m looking up from my laptop. I have quiet.

Surprisingly, I can also write well in a crowded coffee shop. Does that make sense? It seems it is almost opposite of what I would normally require.

For me, writing requires a ‘bubble.’ I need to be in my own little world. Do you remember what it’s like when you’re reading a great book, how you notice nothing in what’s going on around you? You can be in the waiting area at an airport, or in a hospital lounge, or even riding in the back seat of a car going through city traffic.

Or maybe you’re having a conversation on your cell phone with a loved one. You are in your own faraway land. That’s the kind of bubble I’m talking about.

If you’ll notice in the “acknowledgments” of some of my books, I occasionally thank a local coffee shop where I’ve spent some time writing. It may only be a half-hour every week or two, but these coffee shop sessions are an important part of the books I write.

It has been my habit lately to stop by Morning by Morning Coffee Company on Saturday mornings for a half hour or so. They know me and exactly what I’ll do. I order my coffee and dark chocolate brownie, find a place at the little bar at the west wall, open my tablet and write. The Saturday I went through the drive-through, the barista said, “Don’t you usually order inside?”

There are a lot of similarities to the sacred ‘bubble’ I find when I connect with God every morning for prayer. I know you can pray any time or any place, but it works best for me when I’m in a quiet place, or a very busy place. I’m in a sacred space, alone with God.

Where is your sacred space?

Psalm 42:1, “As the deer pants for water, so I long for you, O God.”