Extra Foam

My friend visiting from the USA reminded me the other day that when I order a soy latte’ I request “extra foam.” Really? I was surprised to hear of this. But sure enough, I do. I mean, I did. I have totally forgotten my routine Starbucks order. There was a time in life that “extra foam” was an essential, a necessity and a must for my latte’. Double tall, extra foam, soy latte’ please. I didn’t think twice. It was “second-nature."

I am struck with the fact that I have forgotten this small but important routine. It’s not necessarily that Starbucks was all that routine (okay, at least several times a week) but when I did order that double tall, “extra foam” was always included. I didn’t forget.

But I did forget. Why is that? This question got me thinking. Does it have to do with the fact that I live in a “developing country" where Starbucks isn’t anyplace and anywhere at anytime sitting on every street corner? Or is it because tea is the drink of choice for India’s people? Even as coffee is publicized to the “young and the restless” 20somethings, who gather in coffee hubs wearing Levi jeans and polo’s and wrist watches and chunky “made in China” jewelry, tea remains India’s finest drink for every occasion and non-occasion. Is it because I’m not being inundated with the smell and taste of pop culture from my birthplace that I’ve forgotten routines of past? Maybe it’s because life at times feel so opposite from former life, and some moments can’t be scribed on paper and cultural complexities are too large to ink.

Yes, and yes, and yes to all. But it’s not the foam that’s the issue here is it? For me this has become a question of what I can and cannot live without (even if in the moment it makes life feel good and how it’s supposed to be). I can actually live without extra foam. I can also live without fluid-moving traffic, and without morning coffee just before a jog in the early morning chill, without organic black licorice, and my husband can even live without Root Beer (gasp!). I can even live with misunderstanding, painful memories, misconstrued talk, insincerity and mean words.

But I cannot live without the unconditional love of my heavenly Father. Forgiveness from my husband. Justice, though it may come later. Mercy and grace for mundane but daily battles. Humility to acknowledge my weaknesses and encourage my strengths and the poise to remember Who they came from. I cannot live without the confidence of Where I’m going after I breath my last, and with Whom my life is eternally grounded upon.

Although I don’t want to, I can live with extra foam. But what I cannot live without I will work hard to never forget and always hold on to. Even as life’s routines change and “second-nature” enjoyments fade into "what used to be". Sadly enough, extra foam comes and goes. But thankfully forgiveness, grace, and justice last a lifetime.