Tag: Coffee

The Syrup-Creamer Difference

Every once in a while, my 9-year-old asks to add a splash of coffee to his hot chocolate in the morning.  And every once in a while I allow him to do so.

This morning, he asked if he could pour some coffee.  In a horrible mothering moment, I assumed he meant pour a small amount into his hot chocolate, as he had done before. Instead, he poured himself a full cup and then proceeded to add “vanilla creamer.” 

A few moments later, he brought me his cup and asked, “Why doesn’t it taste like yours?”

I took a sip and discovered it was pure coffee…with a VERY large helping of vanilla coffee syrup.  Not, creamer.  

Have you ever tried to substitute syrup for creamer?  In my opinion, it was disgusting!  Substitutes may taste slightly the same, but there are distinct differences.  

The same is true with God.  There are seasons of our lives that we make slight adjustments to our walk with God.  

Some adjustments may include the amount of time we spend in prayer, or the time of day we spend in prayer.  Those substitutes may be exchanging time reading a fiction novel for the time to read the Bible.  Perhaps I skip the pedicure and instead go serve at the community center. 

But what about when we substitute our Bible study time for shopping on line? When we sacrifice prayer time for reading a magazine?  When we choose to fiddle with the radio nob rather than take a moment to pray for the homeless person on the side of the road?

Sometimes the substitutes are for the better, sometimes for the worse.  Some are syrup and some are creamer. 

Take a moment this week and assess what is being substituted in your life…is it better or worse for your relationship with God.  I’ll be praying that you have healthy substitutes and grow closer to the Lord.  

~Emily

When You’re Known

During the two years that I was stationed at the Pentagon, I visited the same coffee stand every morning.  I always ordered a large hot coffee with cinnamon.  Unless it was Christmas time, which was when I switched from cinnamon to peppermint.

On one fall morning, I ordered my typical cinnamon coffee.  After the first sip, I was pleasantly surprised to taste peppermint, rather than cinnamon.  The peppermint syrup had come in a few weeks early and the barista knew that I swapped over to the alternate flavor for a season.  He knew my daily order well.  But he also knew my annual coffee habit.

I still reflect back on that time and marvel at the moment of feeling like I was known.  It reminds me of the psalm, written by King David, about how wonderful it is to be known by God, the Father of us all and Creator of the Earth.  David wrote, “Lord, you have searched me and known me.” ~Psalm 139:1 (CSB).  The phrase to be known signifies how those closest to us would know us personally.

That is an amazing thought.  God knows us more personally and intimately than those closest to us here on Earth.  He knows us because He is pleased with what He created.

What a marvelous gift it is to be known by God and that we can claim friendship with the Lord. It is because of that intimate knowledge, we can trust Him with all aspects of our lives.  He knows what’s best for us.  Occasionally, that knowledge surprises us with something unexpected but in our best interest.

Much like a surprise sip of peppermint coffee…

~Emily

When You're Known copy

 

 

 

First Class Upgrades

This last week, I had the privilege of speaking at a conference in San Antonio.  As I was leaving the Montgomery airport, I stopped for a coffee.  There I overheard a customer order four black coffees.  He was told that they didn’t have any cup carriers.  He seemed perplexed as the cashier tried to brainstorm with him about how to get the coffees to his gate.  I interrupted and offered to carry one or two of the cups for him.  He was so grateful for the extra hands.  It was a very simple act of kindness at 5am in a semi-dark airport coffee shop.

I got on the plane and thought nothing of the coffee.  An announcement let us know that the doors had been closed and secured.  I was ready to take off for Texas.  Until I was startled by a gentleman’s voice saying, “Ma’am, can you please gather your belongings and come with me?”

**Side Bar…I’m an OCD-perfectionist who avoids conflict and trouble.  Please know my first thoughts were “I haven’t done anything wrong enough to get kicked off this plane!”

I looked up into the eyes of the coffee buyer.  And also, the pilot of the plane.

He was upgrading me to first-class simply for helping him carry the coffees for his crew.

I was shocked & surprised.  Frankly, it was embarrassing to be moved for something that I didn’t think much about.

While sitting in my new seat, I thought about Christ’s sacrificial death as an offering to first class.  We’re toiling away, doing life, occasionally being kind, when all of a sudden the Holy Spirit speaks into our lives.  “Why don’t you gather your belongings and come with me?”

Can you imagine how different life would be if we were all kind?  How different would it be if we offered help without any second thoughts…or thoughts of how it would benefit us?  How different would life be if we accepted the gift of an upgrade?

In the next week, try your best to be kind. Try your best to remind others of the “First Class Upgrade” available to all of us.

~Emily

First Class Upgrades copy

The Green Coffee Mug

Coffee

As my mom handed me a cup of her freshly concocted Folgers instant coffee she said, “Here’s your frappa-wrappa-crappa with extra whip, almond milk, Hershey’s syrup and a drop of peppermint.”  We both laughed.  She loves to make fun of what she calls “the foofie coffee” that I prefer to drink.

The best part of this scenario?

My mom handed me that gross instant coffee in my grandma’s mug. It’s a tiny little 1970s avocado green cup, which I distinctly remember my grandma using in her own kitchen.  At age three, while waiting for news of my brother’s birth I drank OJ from a real glass cup and she had coffee…in the green mug. I remember her using the green mug when we visited at Christmas each year…a trek from Oregon to Arizona.  She had it in her hand while we picked grapefruit off the tree in her back yard and while she supervised her grandchildren’s use of her old-fashioned wooden clothespins. I remember my Grandpa bringing her the green mug with a fresh refill.

The day she had a stroke, that mug sat next to the sink with a coffee ring gluing it to the counter. An offensive stickiness that she would have never allowed had she known her kitchen looked less than her normal perfection.  And the morning after she died, I remember holding that mug in her backyard as the sun woke up.  I held that mug to my heart and told my God that He had better take good care of her until I could see her again.

There are so many memories wrapped up into this small mug.

It is a tiny mug in comparison to most American mugs.  It looks dwarfed by my Starbuck’s city mugs.  It’s not as tall as the pretty flowery mugs I love.  It’s itty bitty next to my ‘dreaming of owning my own bakery’ macaroon mug. It stands short next to the clay Air Force mug my parents gave me when I made my final promotion.

Ask Erin. I have dozens of mugs. I love them all for various reasons. They remind me of dreams, people, and places. I use them all.   Some at work, some at home. Some for coffee or tea…some for water.  Even the broken ones find their way into usefulness as penholders or new planters in the flowerbeds.

But the avocado green mug with its tiny little stature is my favorite mug.

All because of the memories associated with that little mug.  Good memories. And hard memories.

Our God is an amazing provider, who doesn’t hold anything back from us.  How many precious memories has He given me…and let me hold on to? Too many to count. And yet, here I am looking at this tiny little mug that represents the memories I have of one woman.  Imagine all the memories you have.  Both good and bad.  All those memories are markers of how much our God has provided for us.   The good memories to reflect on, the bad memories to learn from.

I am so very grateful for that little mug. For all my grandma memories associated with that mug. And for the new ones that mom continues to make for me.  Take a moment and reflect on what memories you have that remind you just how amazing our God really is for us.

~Emily

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” ~Philippians 1:3-5 (ESV)

“But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.’” ~Luke 16:25 (ESV)