In the 1983 movie Mr. Mom, Michael Keaton (aka Batman, aka Birdman) plays an out-of-work engineer who agrees to stay home and take care of the house and kids so that his wife (played by Teri Garr) can return to her old ad agency job and support the family. (Well, when the movie premiered the idea seemed a little more radical than it does now.) In a memorable scene, Keaton’s character, Jack, asks the kids where mommy keeps the vacuum.
The kids respond, “You mean Mister Jaws?” Jack laughs at the idea of giving a household appliance a name, especially a name like Mister Jaws; but that’s before he’s had a chance to witness the monster in action!
Last year we bought a new Shark vacuum. Today, after a period of adjustment, we can honestly state that we absolutely adore our ferocious little Sharky! No, no, Shark is actually the name of the company. Ironically, the word perfectly suits this powerful vacuum’s aggressive personality. Once, we allowed him to get a little too close to the drapes, and he ended up eating a good two feet of the fabric before we managed to pry them from his hungry jaws! So, yeah, appliances can have, or at least seem to have, their own personalities—like our Keurig coffeemaker.
We love our Keurig. We often wonder how we ever managed without him. And wouldn’t you know it, we sometimes think that he wonders the same thing! Okay, so he’s got a little bit of an ego, but maybe he’s got good reason to be proud. After all, Keurig feels he’s the best at what he does. In no time flat, he can brew a perfect cup of coffee. But wait! Not only does he conjure up a perfect java while you watch, but he also invites audience participation! As he performs, narrating every step of the process, he sends us these cute little glowing messages, such as “Select your serving size” and “Ready to brew”!
But Keurig is pretty vocal, too: while he works, he gives off these audible sighs of contentment; and after his work is done, Keurig gurgles and hisses to let us know that “Coffee’s ready!”
What’s he really saying? We like to think that Keurig is telling us that he truly enjoys what he’s doing and that he loves to serve; that the little guy’s message in this hectic, often aggravating world is, “Hey, life can be tough, so how about a latte?”
Whether we realize it or not, we all have a message, a story to tell, something we need to share. What’s your message? What do you daily tell the world? We sincerely hope it’s a message of love!
“I may be able to speak the languages of men and even of angels, but if I do not have love, it will sound like noisy brass.” (1 Corinthians 13:1 NLV)