CHILDHOOD COOKIE

I remember being about four years old when my grandmother would make these wonderful cookies that had a chocolate kiss right in the center (it was and still is my favorite cookie). She would make me one special one... larger than all the rest! I would go out into the front yard and take my time eating this special cookie. It could last up to an hour. I would take a small bite and look up at the Oklahoma sky. I would run my bare feet through the freshly cut grass and watch the big white clouds drift by and I would nibble a little more. I just enjoyed being there, the sky, the grass, the flowers all around and my cookie.

I was able to do that because I did not have much to worry about. I did not think of the future, I did not regret the past. I was entirely in the present moment, my cookie, my yard, my flowers and well everything was right.

It is possible to eat our meals as slowly and as joyfully as I ate that cookie of my childhood. Maybe you have the impression that you have lost the cookie of your childhood, but I am sure it is still there, somewhere in your heart. Everything is still there, and if you really want it, you can find it. Eating mindfully one of the most valuable practices of Christian living. We can eat in a way that we restore the cookie of our childhood. The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it again.

Now I am hungry, I've got to go get a cookie!