If degrees had been awarded for saucer drinking, my grandfather would have had a Ph.D. I don’t even see many graduates of saucer-drinking today. It’s a lost art.

Every morning, my grandmother would pour my grandfather’s steaming, hot coffee into his cup. He’d add a little cream, which turned his solid back coffee caramel. Then he’d reach across the table for a teaspoon of sugar.

 After this, he poured part of his coffee into his saucer. As a boy, I always thought that was a bit odd. I never looked at a saucer as a drinking instrument. To me, saucers were good for cake and ice cream, and I always ate my ice cream before it turned into a liquid.

 After a few bites of grits, eggs, and one of my grandmother’s homemade biscuits, which he liked to dip in red-eye gravy left over from the sausage or to sop up some syrup, Daddy Floyd began slurping his coffee from the saucer. The coffee in the cup was still too hot to drink, but the coffee in the saucer was just right to slurp!

 I’m not sure if slurping would have been considered acceptable manners in front of a queen or other royalty, but at the Helms’ household, my granddaddy was king and that’s how he drank coffee every morning.

 I realize our economy is bad. I realize times are difficult. But lately people I’ve visited have reminded me that simple pleasures should not be taken for granted. Some of the simple pleasures of life make us wealthier than we realize.

 I presided at the funeral of a dear woman recently who had not been able to carry on a verbal conversation with a friend, neighbor, or member of her family for 11 years. A stroke left her without speech and with limited motor skills, which further limited her ability to communicate. Even so, she persevered and enjoyed her family and was thankful for many of life’s simple pleasures.

 My grandfather is almost 92 and is now under hospice care. My wife and I visited him last Saturday. Before we left he said, “I sure would like to have a good, cold glass of iced tea.” We watched him sip down two small glasses of iced tea through a straw. Drinking tea, like drinking morning coffee, is just a simple pleasure that we take for granted.

 I recently talked to a person who had dealt with the pain of a kidney stone for nearly two weeks. I had one of those last year. I had never really been thankful that my plumbing worked properly until I dealt with one of those. Now, from time to time, I give thanks for something as natural as, you know, nature itself. I suppose that’s a sign that I’m aging a bit.

 Perhaps another sign I’m aging is that I’m learning how to drink from saucers. No, I’m not a coffee drinker. However, I am learning how to savor life, to be thankful for simple pleasures that are there every day should we be willing to see them and acknowledge them.

 I saw a beautiful butterfly last Monday and I wondered where it was during the 15 inches of rain we had over three days! Those wings are so delicate and yet, there it was after the wind and the rain, floating around in its beauty. I paused, watched it, marveled at its beauty and design and gave thanks for it.

 We just drink life in too fast. People who are in a hurry and on the fast track don’t have time to mess with a saucer.

 I’m learning to add a saucer with my cup of faith. Although there are difficult days, I must say, many days my cup is overflowing. I need a saucer to catch the overflow. Even when there is no overflow, the saucer is there to use anyway, intentionally. While there are times my thirst is such that I want to turn my cup up, most of the time I need to slowly take in God’s living water, slurping it, savoring it, and allow God to bless me, refresh me, and rekindle my spirit.

 Of course, not all of our cups are cups of blessing. Jesus reminds us how to face those times of life. Facing his most burdensome hour, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not what I want but what you want.” Matthew 26:39 (ISV)

During this Holy Week, we can praise God that because Jesus held onto the cup that the Father chose for Him, you and I are able to have blessings overflowing from our cups.

When your cup overflows and even when it doesn’t, drink from your saucer, and praise God from whom all blessings flow.