A Little Rosary with My Coffee

By Sarah Reinhard

I’m finding, in my experience as a parent of young children, that nothing stays the same for long. When I find myself in a good groove, it won’t be long before things are turned upside down and I am rethinking how I do things. The same, though, is true for when I’m struggling.

A few months ago, I was really struggling. It was all I could do to drag my very pregnant self out of bed and pray in the mornings. At night, I was just as exhausted, so there was no hope of praying then. And during the day? Well, let’s just say I had a whole set of reasons why thatwouldn’t work either.

Now, however, I am embracing the wee, early hours of each morning as my quiet time for prayer. Oh, and coffee. Lots of both.

My infant son wakes me, and we come downstairs. He coos (or screams, depending on the day), and I make coffee and change him while I listen to the invitatory from the Liturgy of the Hours, which is piped through from the fine folks at Divine Office. He often nurses while I begin my caffeine intake and my earnest prayer with Morning Prayer (again, thanks to Divine Office).

When I begin my rosary, at some point after he’s done nursing and I’m done with Morning Prayer, I’m usually wide awake. I can appreciate the silence, and I’m often patient if there are some loud thunking footsteps, indicating that one of my older children is being an early bird.

I may or may not finish my rosary in that sitting. Some days it flows in a long stream, all at once. Other days, I pray it in fits and starts, working a decade in between a potty break, a breakfast plate, a shower, and baths.

I’m so grateful, though, to have the silence of the early morning, coffee in hand, to begin my time in the school of Mary. I picture her beside me, with her own mug and maybe some crazy bed head, too. She’s probably enjoying memories of when her Son was as small as mine, savoring his smallness, appreciating our time together.

And, really, that’s why I love putting a little rosary with my early morning coffee.

Sarah Reinhard writes about Mary, motherhood, and miscellaneous things that amuse her at SnoringScholar.com. You’ll also hear her Mary in the Kitchen segment weekly on the Catholic Foodie show.