Blackberry Moments
The right song has the power to entice Gavin, my six year old nephew, to bust out into impressive never before seen dance moves after beckoning his Mom to turn on “his jam.” One musical note of Bruno’s Uptown Funk and it’s all over! I can’t hear Snow Patrol without tearing up over why Denny had to die! (This will only make sense if you watch Grey’s Anatomy.) Music is powerful, impactful and motivational. It instantly can alter our mood and lift our spirits. I was eight years old the first time I heard a cello. Our music teacher invited a former student to our elementary music class and he played the “Dying Swan” from Swan Lake. It was so beautiful it moved me to tears...at eight. I never forgot that moment and get choked up, to this day, every single time I hear a cello play that song. The beautiful thing is music can be like a time machine. One song, the lyrics, the melody, the mood can take you back to a moment in time like nothing else can.
One particular day this week, my
stress level at work reached an all-time high.
Everything was critically urgent and going wrong. I felt the pressure within start to rise to a
boiling point worthy of either bursting into tears or devouring a mound of
something sugary sweet. A thought of a
premeditated panic attack was pounding through my mind. I opted for the only option available that
wouldn’t ruin my diet or mascara; I headed to the cafeteria to get a salad. God seems to give you exactly what you need,
just when you need it. While walking
down the long passageway towards the cafeteria God placed a song on my heart, “Ain’t
No Mountain High Enough.” Suddenly Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell are singing boldly
and loudly in my mind. I instantly feel the
heaviness of the day lift from my chest and my heart smiled with each beat. I haven’t thought about this song in so very long.
I was in middle school when our
church’s catechism teacher, a young hip cool guy, brought a jam box into our
Thursday night class. He instructed us
to close our eyes, pretend this was God singing to us, and pay close attention
to the lyrics. Music is so powerful and
this was a life changer. Ever since that
day this became our song, Jesus and me.
“Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no
river wide enough to keep me from you. If
you need me, call me, no matter where you are, no matter how far. Just call my name, I’ll be there in a
hurry. You don’t have to worry. Remember the day I set you free, I told you
you could always count on me. From that
day on, I made a vow, I’ll be there when you want me, some way, somehow. No
wind, no rain or winters cold can stop me.
If you’re ever in trouble, I’ll be there on a double, just send for
me. My love is alive way down in my
heart, although we are miles apart. If
you ever need a helping hand, I’ll be there on the double, just as fast as I
can. Don’t you know that there ain’t no
mountain high enough to keep me from getting to you.”
This is what Ernie Johnson Jr. would
call a “blackberry moment.” In his book,
“The Unpredictable Moments that Make Life Extraordinary,” he coined this term
from a baseball game he was playing when he was just 8 years old. Two outfielders got distracted during the
game and found a blackberry patch, and in turn, they delayed the entire game
because the two were nowhere to be found. This unexpected event of a couple
kids getting distracted at a baseball game turned out to be a sweet memory for
the team, and created the phrase “blackberry moment.” Sometimes, it’s the surprisingly sweet,
unpredictable moments that make our lives so great. This week I made it a
priority to focus on blackberry moments.
Failure to do so leads to white knuckling the stress filled events and spending way
too much time numbing feelings with technology or food trying to escape.
If I
want to reach my goal and obtain success on this weight loss journey, I need
blackberry moments, not stress. I
suddenly realized blackberry moments happen all the time but do we even
notice? Billy Graham says, “When life is
hard it’s easy to focus only on the bad things and forget all about the good
things God has given us. But God has
blessed every one of us in ways we often overlook.” This week I made a conscious effort to pay
attention to the unpredictable sweet blackberry moments. They are not as rare as one thinks. Sometimes you will never know the value of a
moment until it becomes a memory. You
create what you focus on. When I focus on
blackberry moments I realize they are all around me.
This week's favorite blackberry moments:
1. Eating dinner with Dan, talking about our day and laughing together.
2. Oliver falling asleep in my arms while watching TV. (He's quite fond of "The Voice.")
3. The neighbor's new fluffy puppy bouncing over to the fence to say, "Hello."
4. Laughing so hard at work when someone made a joke that we all were about crying.
5. Coming home after work to be met at the door by both of my guys with hugs and kisses.
Blackberry
moments – when you forget about work, email, cell phones, texts, meetings,
deadlines or pressures and focus on love.
It’s that simple.
Joel
Osteen says, “Just because we’re in a stressful situation doesn’t mean that we
have to get stressed out. You may be in
the storm. The key is, don’t let the
storm get in you.” Don’t stress yourself
out over things you can’t control or change.
John Zinn said, “You cannot stop the waves, but you can learn to
surf.” Clearly we can’t control the
ocean’s waves, especially in the midst of a storm. I can’t stop the waves of stress but I can choose
to break out into song and play "my jam." Perhaps
playing “Ain’t no mountain high enough” and busting into never before seen
dance moves will create a whole new blackberry moment!
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