With all of the “how-to” books written on a remedial level to help the simplicity-challenged, I propose a new title:  French Press for Dummies.  Why, you may ask?  It’s a funny thing…

I’m not a big coffee person (I prefer cocoa), but since my hubby is, I make his coffee in the morning so he doesn’t have to dish out budget-zapping change to SBUX or McD’s.  Being the deal-seeker that I am, I got a big ol’ vat o’ Folgers when it was on sale at the grocery store…only to realize (too late – at home) that it was on sale for cheap because it wasn’t instant coffee.  And I’d broken the pot to the coffeemaker many moons ago.  So what was I to do with all of this coffee and no machine?

It took a friend with a law degree to unpuzzle me.  She recommended a French press for getting some use (and tastier coffee) out of those grounds.  I’d never heard of one, but she told me it was really simple to use.  I like simple (a LOT), so I gave her money…and within a week, she’d found one for under $5 – great, right?  Wrong – I was befuddled and my hubby was caffeine-deprived for several days.  My quandary?  The Folgers directions gave measurements for preparing a 6 oz. cup of coffee.  The French press gizmo directions gave measurements for “1 scoop per 4 oz. of water.”  Powerless to reconcile the ratio of water to coffee grounds, I was stuck.  As in “fork in the road, don’t know which way I’m going, and my written directions just flew outta the sunroof – so I’ll just pull over on the side of the road until I figure out what to do next” stuck.  (Yes, that really happened to me – I’m directionally-challenged, too…but that’s another story for another day).  With my inability to convert simple math for a cup o’ joe, you wouldn’t think I work at a bank, right?  Or these days, maybe you would.  Nevertheless…

When she came to visit me about 2 weeks after she’d givien me the French press, I sheepishly admitted my ignorance and confessed that I’d been terrified to do it wrong, so I hadn’t made any coffee with it yet.  She patiently illuminated the process (by telling me to go with the Folgers directions), and I was happy to finally make 8 oz. of coffee quite easily – whew!  Yay – problem solved!  And it was tastier than instant coffee, so it was worth the wait.

Why do we get frustrated when we don’t know what’s coming next?  Do we have a problem asking for help?  Will it really hurt to admit that we don’t know everything?  We are “in the press” because God is always at work in His children. Let us continue to allow Him to press us for His glory.

p.s.  A special shout out to my “smarty pants” sistahfriend in the blogosphere – the highest-paid corporate barista out there!  No shame if they ask you to get their coffee even though you have a graduate degree.  Just laugh all the way to the bank while you provide service with a smile.  If they wanna pay multiple thousands of dollars a year for someone to get their coffee, who are we to question?!

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 3:13-14)

© Copyright 2011 by Kayren J. Cathcart