My treasure

"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" Matthew 6:21

I find my heart 

surrounded by warm hands

with steam rising up, 

encircling fine lines and wrinkles 

of the face across from mine. 

“What’s your order?” 

I ask the simple question that softens the air, 

making room for stories to be exchanged 

and memories to begin. 

The question that connects

the businessman and the student,

the pastor and the manager.

I love the acquired taste of bitterness

in the dark roasts of humanity,

and the stillness that reveals itself

in the stranger's smile as I

hand them their cup of the day.

It is with steamed milk and espresso

that I write the earnest message

inside the cup that nearly overflows,

catching laughter and tears 

in the early morning brews. 

My heart is in the cup 

handed over on the way to work, 

the cup gifted on a cloudy day

and the cup that turns strangers into friends. 

“Would you like a coffee?” 

I will ask with my hands outstretched, 

an invitation to soften the ice 

that the winter leaves behind.

To the one in the cold,

and the one who studies alone,

coffee is community.

My treasure is

to offer up this cup,

to sit and listen,

to connect on common grounds,

to pray that your cup will overflow.