To do something original and enjoy the time it takes.
Then attempt to figure out how to make it faster.
Eventually, polishing all the steps and shortcuts
To make what was an original something you settle for.
That’s what we accept and often look for.
How to replace the time it takes for a speedier result.
For the original, we once wouldn’t trade the world for
We accept the fast pace of life and trade for convenience.
I was thinking about coffee this morning.
We pay the price for convenience and ignore
They don’t even come close to the original experience
Of roasting, grinding, and making a pure cup of flavor.
Pods? Instant? Even pre-ground and canned.
Grind to a halt those manufacturing and production plants.
What would you do if all that could be done
Was a shipment of green beans from the grower?
What have we lost? The art of a good cup of coffee.
Before the past allowed us to become inconvenienced?
An ancient grinder that could only grind one way
Before we thought of the multiple grinds we use today?
I remember a time when we bought coffee by the grind.
Fine for a percolator, Drip for a pour-over style, and
Then All Others for anything else you might have.
That was the convenience of my youth.
Now, consider all the conveniences of our modern time.
Electronics have replaced the time-worn world
Of handwritten letters and notes instead of texts or social posts.
Of reading and imagining instead of watching a screen.
Of participating in church online instead of being present.
It’s like we’re creating a new normal
Where the convenient results are the way to live
Instead of slowing down and doing it ourselves
We want someone else to give it to us. Presto! It’s here!
Convenience separates us from the old paths.
Of mixing a roux for the gravy and sauce you need,
You look for a premixed or powder to speed up your prep.
Why don’t we pause and think we’re losing our past?
Writing instruments are going out of style.
No quill or jar of ink, homemade paper,
Or a stamp to pin to the corner of an envelope.
What will the future think?
Our cars are monster computers surrounded by tires.
We don’t hand-figure a route or solve an equation
We ask our computers to do it for us.
Convenience may be trading speed for lost art.
Where we no longer know how to do it ourselves.
Bring the world to its knees,
The ones who will survive
Are those who can do it the old ways
They are not influenced by convenience.
Jeremiah 6:16 NKJV
Thus says the LORD:
“Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths,
where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’