Mini-Sabbaths at the North Point

Every Monday through Friday, 8:45 until 9:30AM, I enter into what
has become for me during the past two years an established and sac-
red routine in my life. Most of this time is spent at a local coffee shop
writing in my journal. During this time I reflect on the past few days
and prepare for the day at hand. It is almost like having a mini-Sab-
bath each day.

On weekdays, with varying degrees of success, I try to get to my desk
around 7AM. Sometimes I get some work done, and sometimes I do
not. Around 8:35 I start walking the short distance to the University
Chapel for Morning Prayer that is hosted by the University Chap-
lain. I'll write more about that later, but suffice it to say that Morning
Prayer has become an important part of my life here at the university
during the past three and a half years. It is only ten minutes long, but
it has had a huge impact in terms of forming me spiritually and shap-
ing the direction of my life.

After prayer, I take a short walk to the North Point, a well-known
local coffee shop, for its morning Happy Hour. The hot drinks are
inexpensive during Happy Hour, the staff people are chatty, and
the place is full of life, conversation, and laughter. But what I like
best about mornings at the North Point is that they provide me with
place and time to examine the immediate past, pay attention to the
present, and look forward to the future. It offers me the time and
space in which I can journal about these things. There may be lively
conversation next to me, but I am usually lost in writing my thoughts,
feelings, and observations down on the pages of my journal. I don't go
out of my way for coffee, but I do enjoy hot chocolate, Fair Trade tea,
or Fair Trade Mocha while I sit, feel, think, remember, and write.

For many years now journal writing has been an enriching spiritual
discipline in my life. It has always been a part of my Sunday routine
after church. During the last few years I have tried to make time ev-
ery day to take short mini-Sabbath times of rest. Journal writing has
become a way in which I can take God seriously and pay attention to
what God is doing in my life. There might be lively and loud hustle and
bustle jampacked into every one of the forty or so available seats in
the North Point, but I am oblivious to it all while I write in my journal
as if before the face of God. As I write about people I have met, conver-
sations I have had, the books and articles I have read, movies I have
seen, the feelings that are within me, decisions I have to make, and the
things I have done, I am oblivious to the world around me. As I write
things out I become aware of things I hadn't noticed before, make con-
nections I had not seen previously, and gain insight and wisdom. I am
also aware that at times I find it difficult to write about something and
to bring it before the face of God. There are some things that are just
too painful or shameful. But I do pay attention to those things because
what I don't want to write about is just as important and revealing as
what I do write about. As a result of my experience I would say that
journal writing has become as important to me as writing and complet-
ing my dissertation, and perhaps even more so.

On most week days you can find me at the North Point drinking a hot
beverage, journaling about the good and bad experiences of life, and
entering into a mini-Sabbath with the Lord.