Most coffee shops goof up my order.

In my mind, it's not a difficult order. It's only three, readily available ingredients. And when I order, I give explicit directions.

The problem is, coffee shops aren't used to making it. There's no button on the cash register for it. And the baristas fumble around and ask for help before assuring me that what I've asked for will be what I get. Most of the time it isn't.

When you and I wake up in the morning, 95% of the time we just hit yesterday's reset button. We are creatures of habit. We avoid change. We like things in neat, familiar boxes. It's about control, which probably has something to do with fear, which rules so much of our lives.

The opposite road of fear is the road of love. Love does not express itself in fear, but love expresses itself in faith. 

When Jesus confronts some religious authorities in Sunday's gospel he runs up against this - and his timeless message is for you and me to be open to a more expansive life than what we're living.

So we ask:

How do are we limiting ourselves? 

How are we settling for less? 

How are we setting easy goals instead of challenging ones? 

How is God working to give us a bigger vision, one that does not have a button on our registers, but asks us to think, act, and risk?

When Jesus promises us an abundant life it's probably something new and different, so let’s not simply position ourselves for the ordinary and mundane.