Coffee, Tea, & a Nagging Presence Just Over Your Left Shoulder ...

In Tokyo's "Manuscript Writing Cafe," customers sign in by listing their name, a writing goal, the time they plan to finish, and an approved nagging level: "mild" for a query about whether they finished as they pay and leave; "normal" for a check-in on their progress every hour; and "hard" for the silent pressure of a staff member frequently standing behind them, ensuring that they are tackling the work they intend to finish.

The cafe itself is a crisp, nicely lit coffee shop in western Tokyo that boasts 10 reserved seats for anyone who is battling a writing deadline and seeking external support. Customers are charged 130 yen ($1.01) for the first 30 minutes and 300 yen ($2.34) for each additional hour. Coffee, tea, and high-speed Wi-Fi are unlimited, as is the deadline pressure that encourages writers to the finish line.

For owner Tatuya Kawai, the firm expectations are precisely the pressure he needs to maintain focus as a writer: "The cafe went viral on social media, and people are saying the rules are scary or that it feels like being watched from behind," Kawai said. "But actually instead of monitoring, I'm here to support them. ... As a result, what they thought would take a day actually was completed in three hours, or tasks that usually take three hours were done in one."

What an amusing metaphor of the guidance we all long for and yet eschew: We love the satisfaction of completing a God-ordained project, but the journey is often so tiresome or arduous that we never quite finish. And the more journeys we never-quite-finish, the more weighted we feel by the disappointments of life.

And yet the Holy Spirit is ever-present, equipping and encouraging us from alongside and from within:

And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. -- Ezekiel 36:27

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. -- 2 Corinthians 3:17

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. -- John 14:26

Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst? -- 1 Corinthians 3:16

"And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning." --Acts 11:15

A cafe employee hovering just behind? Likely the anxiety of that shadowy presence would irritate or overwhelm most of us. But the metaphor is apt ... and the Tokyo cafe is booming.

God bless,

Jennie