Assume the Position

Gone From My Sight

A hand operated espresso maker was given to me about twenty years ago. The maker, AllClad, has been producing top-quality cookware for years. This particular item was somewhat of a one-off and they no longer make it. I’ve never seen another one like it, not even on eBay as a matter of fact. This makes it all the more precious to me. It has a standard portafilter like a fine Italian made commercial espresso machine has but runs without electricity, using the pressure of human hands to force the boiling water through a single shot of finely ground coffee beans.

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A few days ago I took the little stainless steel basket out of the portafilter handle to give it a deep clean. After carefully drying it and giving the chrome a good polish I reassembled it much to my own dismay. The two pieces did not fit back together as they used to. The little basket snaps tightly inside the handle and now it was so much looser – not right – too loose to whack the perfect puck of compressed used grounds out. ARRRRG! What on earth had I done? Did some missing piece go down the drain while cleaning it? It wasn’t likely I could find a replacement part. I’ve used it carefully the last couple of days but it’s just not the same as before. But this morning, upon closer inspection, I found the missing piece! I’m pretty sure I heard an angelic choir rejoicing somewhere (in my mind?) as I spied the slender aluminum ring that had merely dropped out of position and, thank God, was still there in the bottom of the filter basket!

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Oh my head is filled with analogies and allegories and all that business when I think of what I saw in the bottom of that coffee stained, 20-year-old, joy-bringing device! But here’s where I’m going to go with it for now. The small ring of metal, being the diameter of a paper clip, had slipped out of position within the filter basket that housed it. It was “technically” in the very near proximity of where it was designed to be. Literally. It was designed for a very specific purpose and if not used for that purpose it had NO purpose. But it was in the general area that it needed to be in just not in the exact location it was designed to be in. Can I preach? If you are already feeling something well up like a lump in your throat or a heart swelling or a little mind going numb on you then this is for you.

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There is a divine purpose for you and you need to get into alignment with it. Not near it. In it. There was an imperceptible groove that had been manufactured into the inside of the portafilter. That was the sweet spot for that paper clip-like circle of metal. It was designed to go there. It fit there. It made the whole piece of heavenly espresso dreams equipment operate properly. It wasn’t as important that it wasn’t made of the most durable or flashy material, it was designed for a very specific purpose and a very specific place had been designed for it to be in.

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PAUSE AND THINK ABOUT THAT!

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Get where you need to be to fulfill your purpose. Its between you and your Maker to sort out the details but it’s up to the preachers in your life to nudge you, yay, swift kick you in that direction.

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Assume the position. You were designed for it.