I’m not normally a rule breaker, and I don’t like to flagrantly break the law, but during this past Easter weekend, there were two instances that I wanted to break the law. The laws of thermodynamics that is.
This is where, if you’re my husband, you would insert a nerd gif.
But back to the laws of thermodynamics.
Mainly, the second law of thermodynamics.
This is the law that states hot things always cool. If you want to read some good nerd stuff, here’s the Wikipedia article about it.
But back to story of why I wanted to break this law twice this weekend. Once was on Friday…Good Friday actually. My husband and I were out running errands in Lancaster and we stopped at a local coffee shop. They gave me a cup of their Sumatra coffee in a beautiful ceramic mug. The mug wasn’t fancy, but well made, and more importantly it fit against my cheek and sinus area. For chronic sinus sufferers out there, I hope you can relate to the “Ahhhh” factor. We sat in this quiet coffee shop, with my great tasting coffee that was warming my hands and my face in such a delightful way.
And I simply wanted to break the laws of thermodynamics. I wanted that ceramic mug to stay warm forever…and to have that cup forever filled with the delicious, smooth, cup of good stuff.
The second time I wanted to break that unbreakable law was Saturday morning. The morning was warm, and we had the cushions of our back deck furniture out. We were listening to WXPN’s Sleepy Hollow and once again I was enjoying a delightful cup of coffee. Holding it in my hands watching the steam rise up into the morning air. And I just wanted to hold onto that moment forever.
Perhaps you’ve wanted to break the law, as well?
Break the law of gravity on mornings when you look into the mirror and parts of you seem to be sagging in a downward angle.
Stop the laws of space and time and hold onto a moment when all your family can finally, FINALLY, be together after how many friggin’ years!
And while breaking the second law of thermodynamics, be a real rebel and break the 1st and 3rd laws of thermodynamics, as well. The first one about how energy isn’t created or destroyed and the third about entropy and absolute zero.
So why am I thinking about breaking the laws of thermodynamics?
It’s not simply because I like a good cup of coffee to last forever…but it has something to do with Easter and being an Easter person.
Mainly, if I hold onto the resurrection of Jesus as a core part of my faith, then I believe that God breaks the laws of thermodynamics. What was cold and dead becomes warm and filled with life. What was not, now is. Or as St. Paul writes,
“Where, O death, is your victory?
1 Corinthians 15:55
Where, O death, is your sting?”
St. Paul also wrote about the now and not yet, looking at the promise of the resurrection as “now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12
So yes, right now, there are those moments that we want to hold onto forever, but for right now the laws of thermodynamics win. Darn it!
But in the Christian faith, we believe that God does create…and is always creating.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Isaiah 43:19
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
And we believe that death and entropy do not get to have the final say.
And we also believe in the resurrection and the life… and maybe just maybe that can look like a good cup of coffee, warm and wonderful.
