Coffee and Discipleship
Growing up in a non-member household, I became familiar early on with a power word and its practical use: percolate. Yes, my parents would occasionally ask me to make coffee for them. I learned that if I’d just turn on the right level of heat and let the content of the pot percolate, the full essence of the grounds will be released into the drink. And interestingly, I also learned that just mixing the grounds with boiling water would not do the job.
In life, the brewing (another word sometimes unfairly owned by the world) process can go unaided and take a long time. It’s not an unusual experience for me to suddenly realize one day that a doctrine or teaching of the gospel I learned (but didn’t instill into my heart) many years ago is really, really true, or that it could have solved a big problem, or circumvented some.
If only I had percolated or brewed more often or more intentionally!
Now, those two words are not in the scriptures. But an even more potent word is.
Without this word or practice in our life, we could have a testimony, be going to church every week, going to seminary every day, and even go through the motions of prayer and scripture reading and still not be releasing the essence of the gospel into our living. The truths we learned would be unprocessed—like an uncut diamond that has little brilliance and limited value.
It is the thing Moroni asked us to do when we first receive the Book of Mormon (Moroni 10:3); it is the thing the Lord commanded His congregation to do at the end of His sermon (3 Ne 17:3). It is — Ponder.
Pondering in the gospel … pondering in the Spirit is much more than deep thinking because it is deep thinking and deep listening under the power of the Holy Ghost. While I believe heaven is always eager to teach us, our constant motion often keeps us from hearing. I believe when the Spirit sees one of us pausing to ponder, He sees a soul poised to partake. And He will provide.
Oh, that I had pondered more. Unexamined truths are good only for an unexamined life.
And if I could do one thing over, I would be much less concerned with powering through the scriptures with my children than with pondering the scriptures with them. I’ve come to see that truths ingested do not equate truths digested. And that precepts not pondered often cannot be used at life’s testing points.
Our new curriculums are full of invitations for us to pause and ponder. They are not so much about teaching us more doctrines as connecting doctrines with our lives. Through pondering, what entered our mind may then travel to our heart, and then our hands and feet.
Let us be habitual ponderers (like Nephi, 2 Nephi 4:15-16). A richer drink doesn’t allure us. But a richer life and a deeper discipleship do.
Akron Ohio Stake News 