Do you have a favorite coffee cup? I’m not referring to the one that looks like all the rest except for the chip in the handle. Rather, I’m thinking about a mug on the corner of your desk or the tumbler with the lid that rides along in your truck.

Or, maybe, you got a number of favorite coffee cups.  If they’re like mine, they sport nifty sayings that say things like: “Lord, make me the person that my dog already thinks I am.” Or “Don’t mess with Texas.” Or, from my colt-breaking days, a cup with a cartoon of a mean-looking horse with the words, “Are you sure you want to be the next person to get on my nerves?”

Recently, I grabbed lunch at a cafe called, “The Coffee Mill and Mercantile.” As a priest, I felt at home there because, stenciled on the wall, were the words, My cup runneth over. It reminded me of the coffee shop in the town of Panhandle which is run by the Sisters from the local Franciscan convent. They, too, have a Bible verse painted on the wall: “I have come that you may have life and have it in abundance.”

These verses make me feel a bit guilty about having cups with secular sayings about horses and dogs. To make matters worse, all the cups in the Sisters’ coffee shop feature images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary on one side and prayers on the other.
I should purchase some. Such cups would improve my prayer life. Also, if my doctor ever suggests that I cut back on coffee, I could tell him that it would be against my religion to do so.

The next time you pour yourself a cup, thank God for the gift of coffee. And make sure you have a worthy mug to drink it from!

08 / 09 / 2022
Back to all articles