Black Canyon of the Gunnison<\/a>, a 48-mile formation of steep, jagged cliffs cut by the rushing waters\u00a0of the Gunnison River over millions of years. It was six o\u2019clock in the morning and the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. Below us was a thousand-foot drop; around us on the rim was an expanse of short-grass prairie. As we gazed downwards from our perch on the rim, we could see far below a hawk gliding on the updrafts created by the canyon walls, gracefully spiraling around and around in a pirouette with the wind.<\/p>\nAs I sipped my coffee, I thought of what a holy communion it was.<\/p>\n
Communion\u2014that\u2019s an interesting word, isn\u2019t it? In Christianity it refers to the Eucharist, the bread and wine that represent the body and blood of Christ. But Christians have no monopoly on communion, for many traditions seek a\u00a0blending of divine and human realms. On that canyon edge, we experienced a holy communion with the sky\u00a0and earth, accompanied by a choir of warblers. At one point a raven flew so close that I could hear the whoosh of his wings\u2014though I wouldn\u2019t have been at all surprised if it had turned out to be an angel in feathered disguise.<\/p>\n
It was, quite simply, The Best Morning Coffee of All Time.<\/p>\nThe Black Canyon is so deep and steep that parts of it receive less than an hour of sunlight a day. (Bob Sessions photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nYou may think that\u2019s an exaggeration, but I\u2019m somewhat of an expert when it comes to morning coffee. While I savor this caffeinated ritual\u00a0each day, my favorite\u00a0morning coffees have taken place\u00a0while camping. Bob and I have enjoyed\u00a0coffee on the North Shore of Lake Superior, on the banks of rivers in Iowa, on beaches in New Zealand, and on more mountainsides than I can remember.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m telling you this not to make you envious (for you too can have morning coffee wherever you happen to be). But it relates to something I\u2019ve been thinking about\u00a0for some time, and that\u2019s that we often make spirituality too complicated. We think it\u2019s all about doctrine, practice, and effort, about reading the right things, doing the right things, and thinking the right things. But the older I get, the simpler it seems to be. It\u2019s about noticing the small things. The warmth of a coffee cup in your hands. The first shafts of light breaking on the horizon. The sound of a meadowlark greeting the dawn. I think God wants us to slow down and notice the things that He put so much effort into making (\u201cYou want to see some pretty rocks? I can show you some pretty rocks!\u201d).<\/p>\n
So why is coffee an essential part of the experience? For one thing, you can\u2019t work very hard when you\u2019re sipping coffee. It forces you to stop, to savor, and to sit quietly. I suppose other beverages would work as well, but for me coffee is the magic elixir. And as you sit, you can watch the light slowly shift (this works perfectly well out a kitchen or bedroom window at home, let me assure you).<\/p>\n
But if you\u2019re lucky,\u00a0at least occasionally you\u2019ll get the chance to enjoy that morning coffee in a place as spectacular as the Black Canyon. As long as I have you here, let me tell you a little about it, because you must put it on your list if it\u2019s not there already. It takes its name\u00a0from the fact that it is so narrow and steep\u00a0that little light can penetrate it. Shrouded in shadows for much of the day, each morning and evening the slanting light illuminates one facet\u00a0of the canyon after another, almost as if a spotlight is\u00a0being shone into it (as indeed I guess it is).<\/p>\n
Part of what I loved about the Black Canyon is that not very\u00a0many people visit it. I\u2019ve been to the Grand Canyon and loved that too, but my, there are an awful<\/em> lot of people there. The constant chatter of one\u2019s fellow tourists takes some of the grandeur out of the experience. But relatively few people come to the Black Canyon, tucked away in a remote corner of western\u00a0Colorado. The Gunnison River that surges\u00a0through the base of the canyon is too dangerous for boat travel, and so when you look downwards, you\u2019re gazing on true wilderness.<\/p>\nHere\u2019s my advice. Visit\u00a0Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park<\/a>.\u00a0Get up early, make yourself a cup of coffee, and go sit on the rim. Do absolutely nothing except sip the coffee and look around you. Repeat as necessary until you reach Enlightenment.<\/p>\nWhile the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is beautiful all the time, occasionally God adds a little extra bling, just because He can. (Bob Sessions photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If I get to heaven, I hope St. Peter will give me two things once I enter the Pearly Gates: a cup of coffee and a lawn chair. I\u2019m going to tell him that while I tried my best with more standard spiritual practices, some of my most transcendent moments have come while sitting in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2582,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[240,292],"class_list":["post-10387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature","tag-black-canyon-of-the-gunnison-national-park","tag-colorado-holy-sites"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Spirituality of Morning Coffee<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If I get to heaven, I hope St. Peter will give me two things once I enter the Pearly Gates: a cup of coffee and a lawn chair. I\u2019m going to tell him that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Spirituality of Morning Coffee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If I get to heaven, I hope St. Peter will give me two things once I enter the Pearly Gates: a cup of coffee and a lawn chair. I\u2019m going to tell him that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Holy Rover\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-15T18:56:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/files\/2014\/08\/IMG_9331-1024x681.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lori Erickson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lori Erickson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/\",\"name\":\"The Spirituality of Morning Coffee\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-15T18:56:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-15T18:56:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933\"},\"description\":\"If I get to heaven, I hope St. Peter will give me two things once I enter the Pearly Gates: a cup of coffee and a lawn chair. I\u2019m going to tell him that\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Spirituality of Morning Coffee\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/\",\"name\":\"Holy Rover\",\"description\":\"Practical Advice for Spiritual Travels\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933\",\"name\":\"Lori Erickson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lori Erickson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/author\/lerickson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Spirituality of Morning Coffee","description":"If I get to heaven, I hope St. Peter will give me two things once I enter the Pearly Gates: a cup of coffee and a lawn chair. I\u2019m going to tell him that","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Spirituality of Morning Coffee","og_description":"If I get to heaven, I hope St. Peter will give me two things once I enter the Pearly Gates: a cup of coffee and a lawn chair. I\u2019m going to tell him that","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/","og_site_name":"Holy Rover","article_published_time":"2014-08-15T18:56:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/files\/2014\/08\/IMG_9331-1024x681.jpg"}],"author":"Lori Erickson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lori Erickson","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/","name":"The Spirituality of Morning Coffee","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-08-15T18:56:40+00:00","dateModified":"2014-08-15T18:56:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933"},"description":"If I get to heaven, I hope St. Peter will give me two things once I enter the Pearly Gates: a cup of coffee and a lawn chair. I\u2019m going to tell him that","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/2014\/08\/15\/the-spirituality-of-morning-coffee\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Spirituality of Morning Coffee"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/","name":"Holy Rover","description":"Practical Advice for Spiritual Travels","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/66e798593cfa9b70fcd5c97aa9ca7933","name":"Lori Erickson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eccf48891e91c03ddbb504238ae4c524?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Lori Erickson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/author\/lerickson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2582"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10387\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/holyrover\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"IMG_9331\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2014\/08\/IMG_9331-1024x681.jpg\")
![\"IMG_9396\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2014\/08\/IMG_9396-1024x681.jpg\")
![\"IMG_9406\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/628\/2014\/08\/IMG_9406-1024x681.jpg\")