Sunday Coffee Cup - The Wife's Mug

Share and share alike? Ha!

I don’t know about other men, but around my house I do exactly what I want to do (wait for it), just as soon as I find out from my wife what I want to do.

Honestly, my wife runs the home. She always has. I like it that way (repeats to self – “I like it that way”). It works. She has control of the entire house. I get to control the top of my dresser… and the nightstand by my quarter of the bed. Sound fair, doesn’t it? We most things by the proven mantra: “What’s hers is hers and what’s mine is hers too.”
Then there are the coffee mugs (pretty good transition if I do say so myself). I have full run of Sunday Coffee Cup choices. The entirety of the cupboard is my kingdom – except for two specific mugs. Today’s coffee cup is stolen, swiped, hijacked even, from the wife’s forbidden coffee ware.

 So, you can see I’m living on the edge today, taking a walk on the wild side, playing with fire, crushing the boundaries and putting it all on the line. Ha! Devil be dared!  I’m claiming my manhood and the full domain of my dwelling. This is my house!

Well, I have to go. There is just enough time to finish my coffee, wash and dry the mug and place it carefully back in the cabinet before I leave to meet my dear, loving and kind wife for lunch.

Shhhhhh.  You won’t tell, right?

Sunday Coffee Cup - Crabby Mother

Some people are kind of crabby first thing in the morning. I remember my mother was (well, still is) one of those people. While most of the time my mother was one of the kindest, patient and loving people you would ever meet – not before she had had her morning coffee and cigarette.  The creature that preceded her caffeinated self was the very definition of “not a morning person." So ominous was her uncharacteristically grumpy self that my older brother got in the habit of perking the coffee for her each morning in hopes of hastening the process of her transformation to our loving mom.

Today’s Sunday Coffee Cup comes to us courtesy of my youngest step-daughter.   She returned from a beach trip one summer with this gift.

Although I pretty sure it was simply the obligatory gift for her mother (yes I did just say that), I have enjoyed it over the years as a reminder of my own mother’s Jeckle and Hyde morning coffee transformation – it makes me smile.

Sunday Coffee Cup – The Good Stuff

I remember clearly as a child, that I had two kinds of shoes: my everyday shoes and my Sunday shoes. The Sunday shoes were the ones I wore to church each week and to any special ‘dress up’ occasions. I suspect we all have special shoes or other items that see use only at certain times – dishes, for instance. On a normal day we go to the cabinet and grab any old plate, bowl or cup. On special days, we get out the good stuff – silver flatware, china plates and even cloth napkins.

I was no more than 11 and spending the day down the road playing at a friend’s home. It was getting late and near suppertime. My friend’s mother asked if I wanted to stay for dinner, and I declined. When she asked why I told her, “I’d better go home for dinner. Mom’s planning something special – she’s using cloth napkins and everything!” My mother loves to tell this story, because she was in fact, not planning anything special. She has always enjoyed the simple pleasures of life and believes that from time to time we should bring out the good stuff – just because - and enjoy it ourselves. That brings us to today’s Sunday Coffee Cup.

Allow me to introduce you to our wedding china. Today I’m having coffee with “the good stuff” and by that I mean more than the good china. I’m sipping wedding memories and sacred thoughts about love, marriage and the most wonderful woman I know – my wife. That makes for a fine cup of coffee.

Sunday Coffee Cup - BEM Interactive

If you have ever purchased promotional products, you know the horror of printing it wrong. Some time in the past, my employer had some new coffee cups printed. It was an exciting time because the company had just re-branded. After years of being known as Beyond Email, the brand had come to need a makeover and became BĒM (note the symbol over the E) - pronounced BEAM.

So the coffee cups were printed, sporting the new name and the bright green and charcoal colors and delivered - only to discover that the little ¯ over the E was missing. The error was corrected by the printing company and new mugs sent over. Then the misfit mugs were assigned residence in the office cupboard to be used internally by the staff. Enter today's coffee mug.

I was new to the company and wanted to take a mug home to give to my wife. Hey - I'm proud of where I work. It made sense to me to take one of the misfit mugs and save the 'good' ones for our clients. However, the owner of the company intervened and insisted I not only take my wife one of the good mugs, but that I take her one packaged in a clear box with green confetti and M&Ms.

It was a small gesture, but it meant a lot. In a small way she was saying - you and your family are worth more, valued, and I want you to know it.

Today and every time I find this cup at my morning table, I am reminded of that small - but significant - act of affirmation. Sometimes, we are at our best in the small things.

Sunday Coffee Cup - Mobile Joe

As much as I enjoy a good cup of coffee, slowly savored and methodically consumed in the quiet space of my familiar home, I  also like having a cup of Joe to go! This morning's Sunday Coffee Cup fits the bill well. My son gave this one to me this past Christmas and he selected it based on all the 'must have' features for a mobile mug.

Here's my list of what you need to take your coffee mobile:

1. Stainless steel inside and out. I don't want BPA leeching into my coffee from a cheap plastic liner.
2. Vacuum insulated, double walled seal. Keeping that hot coffee hot is important when your out in the cold.
3. No drip, no spill lid. The lid needs to seal tight and secure enough to handle the occasional tilt, wobble and drop. Also, that lid needs to do the job getting the sacred essence into my mouth with out dripping on my chin or rolling down the side of the mug after a quick slurp.
4. It has to be of a size to easily fit in the car cup holder and not be so small it rattles or jostles on every turn and bump.
5. Finally, my mobile cup has to be easy to grab and drink without looking. Meaning the shape of the mug and conture of the lid need to tell me which way to tip and sip - by feel alone.

That's it, and yes, I know I've given way too much thought to the mobile cup requirements, but this is just one of the byproducts of traveling too many miles on caffeine and dreams...which is another story. Later! Time to roll.

Sunday Coffee Cup - Enduring Pottery

Earthen, grounded, primal and essential are all words I think of when I encounter pottery. The connection between potter and medium is the creation moment. Dripping earth, turning upon the wheel, yielding to the slightest touch or brushing stroke of artist colliding with possibility – this is the moment I see in every piece of pottery.

There is something more substantial in a pottery mug. The weight of it and the irregularities of shape and color demand that each piece be seen and treated as individual. Pottery seems never to disconnect with its origins. No matter how finely shaped, painted or glazed, just the substantial feel of the pottery cup in my hands reminds me that it came from that particular combination of earth and craft. This morning’s Sunday Coffee Cup holds the honor of being the longest surviving piece of hand crafted pottery in my home.

It was a gift from my days as a pastor and has traveled between parsonages and offices; always radiating warmth to my hands as they clasped around its solid coil. It has held coffee, tea and the hopes and fears of a young pastor trying to make a difference. It's listened to people’s secrets and the rhythm of a daisy wheel printer typing out sermons. This potter's cup has seen months of daily use and adoration and has spent its time gathering dust on bookshelves and holding unused pens. It has survived moving boxes and the division of marital goods. Somehow, it remained in an unassuming fashion, waiting patiently for its turn to be held and used – to serve its quiet and steady purpose – solid, earthen, and primal is this cup.

It is amazing, warmed by the brew it holds today, cradled between my hands, all that this Sunday Coffee Cup holds for me.

Sunday Coffee Cup - Cafe Roche

Jazz floats through the space accompanied by a pleasant din of community conversation. A chat about home repairs, banter about the most accomplished local jazz groups and the common agreement that this is the best coffee served in tow are all a part of my morning today.

I often drive the short distance from my home to Café Roche on Sunday morning. If you’ve been there you know why. There is a welcoming eclectic mix of décor and people– always. Today’s coffee cup doesn’t come from my cupboard and isn’t adorned with a clever saying or photo, but it is rich and familiar in both its simple form and steaming content.

I enjoy my stops at Café Roche. This morning is a writing day, so I’ll nestle into the back corner of the use to be white sofa and pound out an hour or so worth of creative writing. Maybe I’ll write down my thoughts about the current craze around Tebowing (oh I have some strong thoughts about God and football), or continue my work on “Things I Wish I Had Said from the Pulpit”, but whatever comes the energy here will help. It is strong, animated and stimulating – just like this Sunday Coffee Cup.

Note: If you like, find out more about Café Roche over at Sarah’s blog.

Sunday Coffee Cup - A Welsh Dragon Friend

Although the dragon has been associated with many cultures, events and causes, one of the oldest and most continuous references is the Welsh dragon. Commonly attributed to the coat of arms of King Arthur, the Welsh dragon has flown for centuries over castles, armies and feasts.

This morning, a Welsh dragon stands undaunted in my kitchen; a coffee cup sporting a pewter design given to me by a long standing friend as a gift this past Christmas.

 The dragon is a welcome member in our home. Somewhere in my own ancestry, I have Welsh heritage.  My wife’s Chinese zodiac sign is the dragon. I have read more stories and novels about dragons than I care to publicly admit (although, if you haven’t discovered Christopher Paolini’s “Inheritance Cycle” you should).  Yet, what gives this mug particular brilliance this morning is the manner and source of the gift.

We all have them, friends who have been with us for a long time. They're the friends who know us “warts and all.” Friends -that take the time to visit, laugh and celebrate with you. Friends -who have stood with you through your best and worst, reminding you not to take too much credit for the former nor too much blame for the later. Such is the friend who gifted me with the Welsh dragon of today’s Sunday Coffee Cup. For these reasons alone I am grateful. The cup is more, however.

Over the past two years, this friend of mine has struggled with employment. This Christmas has found him on the short end of long line of financial challenges and still unemployed. Unable to buy gifts this Christmas, he gave me this gift from his common possessions – something he regularly used and valued. He chose to offer to me a measure of his life, a gift – appropriate in nature for sure – but a gift that meant he would in a small way, be doing with less by the giving of it. There is something remarkably refreshing in such giving and in this cup of coffee this morning.

Sunday Coffee Cup - New Year - What If!?

Well, here it is: New Year’s Day. Happy New Year! I’ve been wandering around the various Social Media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and my long list of blogs, and as expected, the current theme is all about new beginnings, resolutions and starting anew.

The end of a year (2011) and the beginning of a new year (2012) brings many of us to reflection. This morning’s Sunday Coffee Cup is no exception. Someone gave my wife this one last year (2011). If asking the right questions is the key to reflection (and I think it is), then we can get a good start with today’s inquisitive mug: What if money didn’t matter? What if you knew you could not fail? What if you could be anyone you wanted to be?

As I reflect on this year, I wonder, what if I’m already doing the right things. So often we look for new ideas, new habits and new practices. What if I look for what I am already doing that is working and just commit to continuing or amplifying those things? What if I begin this year with a deeper level of self acceptance for who I am and what I am already doing right? What if I stop striving to become something bigger, bolder and better than myself and just celebrate the me that already is?

Sure. I could lose a little weight, get more fit, read more, worry less, earn more, be more charitable, spend more time with family, be a better employee, achieve a few more professional/personal goals… and I probably will – because these things are important to me; always have been. Yet, I find myself wondering if I really need something new, something different in order to make this year, 2012, a great year. Isn’t it possible, that all I really need to do – is to keep doing the things that are working?  Maybe that is all I really need to do in order to make it happen. Maybe it is enough to be vigilant with what is already established. Maybe if I keep doing what I’m doing – I’ll keep getting what I’m getting, which (if I’m totally honest) is pretty darn good.  I do find some comfort in this thought.

Yet, the biggest comfort comes from my conviction that in the final analysis, the contribution that I make to my life is only a small part of what makes my life meaningful. It is true that no one can live my life other than me. It is true that I have full responsibility for my choices. It is also true that we all live in relationship to each other and often the significance of our living is manifest in countless and often unknown ways beyond our individual intent. How many of us have heard a student comment on the life changing actions of a single teacher only to have that teacher confess surprise at that revelation. I’ve had many experiences where people whose lives have been affected by moments from my years in ministry tell me of significant and life changing events that were ‘news to me.’ There is more going on than just what we determine and choose. It is my conviction that there is a loving, caring God at work in our lives doing far more for us and with our actions than we can fully understand.

2012 promises to be a great year because it doesn’t depend on me. I’ll do my part, for sure. I’ll keep doing the things that are working. I’ll try a few ways to better myself – and at the end of December 2012 I am already certain that –God willing – I will be celebrating another year that is great beyond my expectations.

Happy New Year.

Sunday Coffee Cup - Noel

Sometimes we have to provide the meaning.

How many times have we sung, “The First Noel?” It is a wonderful, commonly known carol. You most likely can sing it from memory – tune and verse. If you need a little help, I’ll get you started:

The first Nowell the Angel did say
Was to certain poor Shepherds in fields as they lay.
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
In a cold winter’s night that was so deep.

If you remember it slightly different, you are probably right, as well. There are many versions of “The First Noel,” or Nowell . It makes sense, really, considering the hymn dates back to the early 18th century and has made its way through countless Christian and popular revisions.

Today’s Sunday Coffee Cup reminds me of the popular and often misunderstood carol. Do you know what “noel” means? Perhaps. Perhaps not.  Noel derives its meaning from a French word (which came from a Latin word) that means “day of birth.” So, we are singing about the day of Jesus’ birth. It is a little difficult to ‘get’ the meaning of Noel from my coffee mug this morning.

The snoozing teddy bear and children’s block letters spelling Noel are – well – where’s the Christ in that? This morning Christ is there all right, but not because of the secularized image on the mug. No. The Christ of this Christmas morning rises, like the steam from this mug, from the beloved family, friends and fellowship of my life.  So, today – I will take the time (amid the busyness and chaos) to savor the moments of the day. The unwrapping of gifts will be symbols of the greater gift we have all been given. The indulgence of the meals will remind me of the abundant table that Christ sets before us. The laughter and tears (for both will come today) will remind me of the intensity of a life lived trusting a higher power. And this little sleeping bear, resting unknowingly upon the very word that announces Christ’s birth reminds me that because of what we celebrate this day – all is well.

Merry Christmas, my friends. Merry Christmas.


P.S. As I post this, Bing Crosby just began singing "The First Nowell" on the Panadora Christmas channel. Perfect.