The Coffee Cup Prophet at Christmas
- gmaylone
- Dec 22, 2025
- 5 min read
Today I woke up early.
Well earlier than I have in the past few weeks.
I have always up early, that deep Iowa work ethic, the entrenched military timing, and decades managing things have my clock wired for before the sun comes up.
Or in Army speak, "O dark thirty"
But life changes and this new phase of life I am in, "being semi-retired" has allowed me to take a few steps back, and a few much-needed deep breaths.
I was up, it was cold out, I grabbed some wood, got a nice fire going in the fireplace, and had some coffee brewing, filling the house with the wonderful scent of Hazelnut".
I filled my cup, sat down, and was deciding what I was going to do today.
My to do list is a long one, and everything on it needs to get done eventually, but I am prioritizing things differently these days.
But this morning, I found myself in no hurry and thought maybe I would let the day decide what it wanted from me.
I had sat down for a little while pondering, when I noticed my half-filled coffee cup sitting on the table.
It wasn’t still hot. It wasn’t empty. It was just warm enough to still matter but not empty enough to demand a refill.
Most mornings I don’t give that kind of thing a second thought.
After all, coffee is just coffee, a part of the morning ritual that I barely notice any longer.
But today I was sitting still in my office, reading a bit, tying up a few loose ends, and that cup caught my attention in a way it usually doesn’t.
Maybe it was just product of the reflective mood I have been in, but it felt like a small mental interruption.
Or maybe a mental invitation to take a minute is more accurate.
The holidays have a way of doing that to me.
They arrive loud and fast, wrapped in expectation and movement, and then pass just as quickly. Often leaving a tinge of emptiness behind.
Somewhere between the lists, the lights, and the rush to “get things done,” moments slip by unnoticed.
By the time I realize it, they’re already gone.
That half-filled cup made me think about how long I’ve lived that way.
Most of my adult life really, if I am being honest.
Always leaning forward. Always racing to be ahead of the moment instead of being a part of it.
Like running with blinders on.
I think about just how many opportunities to appreciate, and participate in what was already good, and already right in front of me I have lost.
Not because they weren’t meaningful, but because I wasn’t paying attention, or just couldn't see them.
Like Christmas, it used to feel slower, but faster to me.
Smaller, but bigger.
Quieter, but louder.
More intimate, but certainly more filled with family and friends.
All of this all at the same time.
Not that it was better, necessarily, just different.
People say times have changed, but the reality it is us who have changed with the times.
We used to be somehow more grounded, more connected.
Over time, the season has grown louder, busier, it feels heavier.
It wears me out more than it used to.
Still, every year, I catch tiny, magical, glimpses of what hasn’t changed.
A familiar voice.
A shared laugh.
The warmth of a fire.
A song I’ve heard a hundred times but still recognize the moment it starts and feel the flood of connected memories that it carries with it.
I marvel at next generation of kids moving through the world with their own energy and wonder.
The wonder I feel thinking about the adults my children have become, and the astonishment at how fast the grandchildren are growing up.
All of this wrapped up with the realization of the moments passed that I did miss.
More than a few passed while I was on an airplane traveling for work, overseas supporting our troops, but not at home.
Birthdays, picnics, bike rides, camping. Yes, I was there for some but missed out on many more.
These things don’t announce themselves at the time. They don’t demand attention when the clock is calling you to work.
They are there when we slow down enough to look for them.
Like the reflection we see of ourselves in the mirror, those changes just wait to be noticed.
That’s what the coffee cup felt like this morning.
Not a revelation. Just somehow a reminder.
Half full doesn’t mean settling, or even half gone.
It means acknowledging what’s already there, and knowing that while we are able, we can refill it again.
It means taking the time to recognize that not every meaningful moment arrives at full volume.
Some of them sit quietly on the table, cooling, waiting to be picked up before they disappear.
I hear people talk about the relief of being “done” with Christmas shopping, and I understand it. I feel it too.
But sometimes I wonder if that relief points to something deeper.
Not exhaustion from generosity, but exhaustion from pace.
From the constant push to complete, acquire, move on.
The moments I carry with me aren’t the finished ones.
They’re the small ones.
The unscheduled ones.
The ones that didn’t make it onto a list.
That cup of coffee this morning didn’t change anything about my plans.
It didn’t solve anything.
It just slowed me down long enough to notice where I was, who I was thinking about, and what I already had within reach.
The calendar is about to turn.
Another trip around the sun over with, and another one beginning.
I don’t have resolutions in mind yet.
"Not that my track record at keeping them is any good anyway".
Just this quiet awareness that time keeps moving, whether I’m ready to move with it or not.
A realization that I’d like to notice more of these moments before they slip away.
For the time that has passed, and the time yet to come I feel a sense of gratitude that makes me recognize the richness of my life beyond material wealth.
For now, the cup is still warm.
And today at least, that feels like enough.
I wrote this thinking how truly blessed I am!
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