Honoring the ordinary

Kringle from kringle.com

I was talking with a friend the other day about a memory I have of my mother and I sitting at the kitchen table having coffee after church on Sunday.  I was in my early thirties at the time. Mom was in her early 70’s and still healthy.  I was home on a visit from California and Mom had bought a Kringle, a Danish pastry coffee cake. We sat talking and taking small slices off the Danish, each time saying, “Just another small bite,” until together we had eaten over half of the circular cake.  We joked together that the exercise of cutting into the cake again and again probably wasn’t going to be enough to counteract all the calories in the treat.   Now that mom is gone, it is one of those memories that I treasure.

Our human experience has highs and lows and all those ordinary moments in the middle.  The ordinary moments give us the breather from the ups and downs. They aren’t the dull parts. In fact, they might be some of the richest moments in our lives. If you have kept a gratitude list, you may have an awareness of the specialness of the ordinary moments in life. I imagine souls in heaven talking about what they miss about not having a body and I hear them saying things like, “I missed the feel and smell of rain as it comes down,” or “I miss being able to hug a friend.”

The thought is a good reminder to not get so caught up in a “peak moment” mindset that we miss the beauty that is available right now.  In retrospect like the Kringle moment with my mother, we might find that what we thought was ordinary was indeed the good stuff of life.   So today, I’m going to seek to appreciate the ordinary moments of the day and see if I can hold an awareness of how amazing it is simply to live an ordinary life.  I’m asking you to join me.  We never know what ordinary moments will turn into our best memories.

What’s your best “ordinary moment” memory?  I invite you to share in the comments below.