Sunday Afternoon Tea

I don't know what the emotion is or what sparks that moment... but there are short expanses of time I feel a sense that can only be described as a "deja vu of joy".

This past week the emotion was just below the surface of my thoughts, ready to pop up as I cooked fresh-from-the garden green beans in the kitchen while listening to Jamie Oliver discuss leeks on the television (my stove is behind the TV... sort of).

These emotions have to be sparked by some past memory or experience, much like re-reading a book which was originally read a decade or more earlier.

It reads like a new book but once in awhile, one comes to a paragraph remembered from the original reading... one that had been important at the time and was burned into memory.  There are times when re-reading a book, certain sections can take me back to the place where it was originally read (or many places for favorite books re-read multiple times).

I wasn't certain what these deja vu memories meant or if others experienced them.  I suppose the closest I came to reading about such feelings was found in the words of the poets and the prose written by those who have the soul of a poet.

What is there about a gentle summer thunderstorm that brings back a happy feeling?  Why does just the sight of watermelon on a plate cause me to smile?  I have yet to understand fully why tying on an apron makes me feel a connection to homemakers long gone or the way the garden smells after a rain shower brings a melancholic (yet safe) feeling somewhere from the deepest part of my soul.

Many of us have had the experience of a certain song suddenly coming from the radio and realizing tears are running down our cheek... mostly remembering (but at times confused) by the sadness the song brings.  As well as certain music coming on the radio which brings with it a whiff of Coppertone, sand, and water... and the long forgotten feeling of a teenage summer with no responsibilities.

But what about those rare emotions when one feels the Presence of the One who loves us above all human emotions can comprehend?  For some of us, we felt that pulling toward Him long before we accepted that love and salvation.  The soft Voice of One speaking from eternity into the present day of time and space... for me... the least, the little, the lost, the insignificant.

The first time I glimpsed these emotions in a nonfiction book was while reading The Sacred Romance.  Not only the words of the authors but in the many quotations they provide through the book by others (not surprisingly many writers I already adore).  We truly do "read to know we are not alone"... as reminded by dear Mr. Lewis. 

They had been there... they knew... they had heard the One calling in the midst of all that is crazy in this world.  They realized the Romance and reminded us that He who is Love and Joy tabernacles within...