Friday, March 9, 2012

Special Moments



Folgers has done an impeccable job of capturing special moments and attaching emotion to their brand.
“The best part of waking up...is Folgers in your cup.”
These commercials made me want to drink coffee, long before I ever developed a liking for it.  Many times I woke to a house permeated with the smell of Folgers brewing, much like the commercials indicate.  That smell, over time became an acquired taste  associated with the special morning moments when the day is fresh and new.  Rich coffee bean flavor and aroma evoke emotions similar to those inspired by home, security and peace.  It’s my comfort food.
Before I was old enough for coffee, though, I remember feeling priviledged to share a moment of silence across from Dad with my very own glass of morning tea.  We sat at the table in our camper out in front of our home, a memory my inner-child recalls as a daily ritual.  Dad read the newspaper and I sat quietly sipping my cup of Special Moments tea, as it was so accurately named.
These mornings truly left an indellibel imprint on my life.  As an adult, I recounted the abstract memory with my parents questioning, why on earth dad and I would go out to the camper to drink tea.  It turns out we had just moved to a new home from out of town and my “daily ritual” lasted no more than a couple of weeks as our new home was pampered with some TLC.  Before the paint was sprayed and the carpet laid, we slept in our camper.  Mom and the boys were supposedly already up and at it on the days that dad and I shared our Special Moments.
Later that year, I started attending school.  On the first day of school, Mom always woke me up singing “School days, school days, oh those golden rule days”  I  never heard that song from anywhere other than my mother’s lips on the first day of school.  I wasn’t even sure it was a real song.  But as the smell of coffee permeated my room and mingled with the dusty rays of golden sun sneaking in my window, I gladly welcomed those chilly summer mornings and that familiar tune. “Reading and writing and ‘rithmatic...”
I also remember countless nights falling asleep with a smile of contentment on my face.  Burried under my canopy with my favorite blanket and my cat, Birdie, I listened to mom hum as she folded clothes across the hallway.  Wet denim beat a rhythm against the wall of the dryer as she sang.
Mom would take a break from the pile of laundry to come to tuck me in and say our bedtime prayers.  When she left, I snuggled deeper into my covers and listened to Birdie purr.  I smiled every time.  I literally went to sleep with a smile on my face every night.
These are just a few of the special moments I encountered as a child.  Today, I’m relearning to recognize these Special Moments.  If we’re not intentional, about realizing them, we start believing our lives are drab and mundane.  But every day is full of these overlooked moments.
Now I like to start my mornings with a real cup of coffee and offer silent prayers to a  listening God over a short walk or a silent moment on my balcony.  I share many special moments with Him as I reflect on His creation.  I swell with joy as I realize the same God that is at work in the wonders of the world is at work in my little life.  
What are some of your special moments?  Do you see the sacred in the ordinary?
Psychological pioneer Abraham H. Maslow said “The great lesson from the true mystics...is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one’s daily life, in one’s neighbors, friends, and family, in one’s backyard...”

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