Today as I was walking out of a coffee shop I very clumsily dropped my coffee cup and made a sloppy, tan mess on the ground. Not only did I make an entire mess on the sidewalk, but worse, I also cussed right in front of a couple and their two little tots. I looked up, horrified, and apologized profusely to them, before running back into the coffee shop to grab napkins and clean up after my mistake.
I apologized to the nearby mom for cussing in front of her kids and she was totally fine about it, understanding and claiming that she didn’t even hear me do it. She was forgiving and gracious, and not only that, but even helpful. She insisted, “they’ll make you a new one inside for free!”
“Oh! No, no it’s okay, this is actually my second cup of coffee today,” I breathlessly responded, trying to avoid burdening anyone else with the consequences of my clumsy mistake. I’d already made enough of a (literal) mess as it was.
But then a worker from the coffee shop walked out, having seen the contents of my plastic cup splayed and sprayed on the floor, and immediately offered to make me another cup. “Vanilla, right?” she asked me.
I looked over to the mom who was just telling me that they’d happily replace my drink, smiled embarrassedly at her (because she was right and I was being prideful) and then nodded to the barista inside who, through the glass, was pointing at the gallon of milk in her other hand, already prepared to make my replacement order and just getting the Okay for whole milk. “Thank you so much,” I told the worker outside who happily took over on cleaning up my mess, not even showing a hint of eye rolling, frustration, or disappointment at the inconvenience I caused.
As she spread a wad of napkins over the coffee colored puddle, another man who was playing a guitar outside of the establishment next door approached us and said, “we used to just pour the dog bowl over it, wash the mess right off the sidewalk into the street! No napkins needed.” He smiled. I was once again a little embarrassed because my napkins truly were working rather futilely on the concrete, since the stickiness would remain even if the liquid was cleaned up. The dog bowl of water was much more effective to truly wash away the mess.
A few minutes later, I was out the door again holding my new (and free) cup of coffee. The family joked, “Yay, you made it farther than last time!” When I managed to walk a few more paces on the sidewalk without dropping my cup.
Today, that was a little gift of grace for me.
This coffee incident almost immediately reminded me of why we are so in need of God’s grace.
It is so in our nature to sin, even clumsily. Even if we don’t do it on purpose, just like I didn’t purposely drop my coffee cup on the ground, we are still prone to have thoughtlessly harmful reactions, such as mine of instinctively cussing when I made my mistake.
I’m not proud of my profanity, but I’m so grateful that God gives grace to us in moments like this.
When we make a clumsy mess and spill our lives all over the floor, God doesn’t cringe at how we’ve hurt the people around us, and he doesn’t roll his eyes at all of the effort required to clean up our mess. Instead, he smiles, insists that he’ll make it up for us, and gets to work pulling out napkins to put them all over the floor. Better than that, actually, he doesn’t just address the spill itself, but the sticky situation that remains even after it’s immediately cleaned up. He washes the sidewalk where we’ve made our mistakes, the leftover residual stickiness and hurt and shame, and puts the entire thing out into the street, a place where sins are forgotten and coffee washed away. And he smiles as he hands us over a completely new cup of “coffee.”
When we walk out the door again with our cup of second chances, he applauds and is happy to see that we’ve learned from our experiences, making it past the spot where we once dropped our coffee on the ground, and walking successfully onward, our cup once again full.
In the book of Isaiah in the Bible, God says that he repays Israel double for all her sins. He doesn’t mean that he’s punishing them twice over. It actually means that the notice of her debts has been covered with a second piece of paper (hence the term “double”) to indicate that the debt has been paid for by someone else.
Yesterday though, I literally was paid double for my sins. I’d drank half of my first cup of coffee, and when I spilled the other half, I had twice that amount (a full cup!) returned to me. At no cost to me, but rather on the house of the establishment providing for me. And God does the same for us. What a great blessing!
And the mom! That mother was nothing but kind, helpful, and understanding to me. Even though I cussed in front of her kids and maybe tainted their precious, innocent little ears and hearts. Its crazy that, like this mother, God forgives us even when our actions are damaging to his other precious works of creation.
This is a short little story about coffee and God’s grace, but isnt it crazy that he does so much for us even when we hurt him so much worse than the worth of a cup of coffee? Thank you God for good people who reveal your good grace through their patiently gracious responses to our mistakes. What kindness, and what love! We are sorry, and embarrassed, but we need not be ashamed. Rather, I think it is enough to him that we are grateful. And if we’re lucky, we can even walk out the door and, by his good grace, make it farther without falling than the last time. Thank God for spilled coffee, forgiveness, and grace. Amen.
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
-Isaiah 40:1-2
The More the Marianer 