Disrupting My Routine

My first shift back at the Study Center this semester turned disastrous, fast. I slipped into my usual routine: lights on, coffee brewing, music playing, doors unlocked. But when I stepped back into the kitchen, I realized the fatal flaw of moving on autopilot — I hadn’t closed the coffee spout. About half a gallon of coffee had drained into a drawer and onto the floor. Total disaster.

I felt overwhelmed and anxious, imagining students walking right into the mess. After about ten frantic minutes of cleaning, I finally sat down to catch my breath. I even sent a photo to our intern group chat and joked about it, but I couldn’t believe how careless I’d been.

That’s when the irony hit me. I wasn’t careless because I didn’t know what I was doing — I was careless because I knew it too well. My routine had become muscle memory, and I wasn’t fully present. What was meant to make things easier had made me complacent.

It’s easy to get comfortable here — to settle into rhythms, programs, and routines and assume that’s all there is. But God is always doing something new, often in quiet and unexpected ways. Being present means paying attention to the conversations, the pauses, the moments that don’t fit neatly into a routine. I don’t want to miss what God is doing right in front of me — even if it takes a little spilled coffee to slow me down and notice.