Gratitude Day 542

Tues., Dec. 15, 2020

James 1:2 – Dear brothers and sisters, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy,

Some days just don’t go as planned.

I was trying to get out the door for a work meeting. In the last oh, nine months, I’ve had very few in-person meetings. In fact, this might have been the first one. Like normal, I was attempting to get one more thing done before leaving the house. I knew the full cup of coffee was on my desk. I was confident that I would keep my hands away from the cup.

But alas, I didn’t.

Soon, spilt coffee was running across the desk, right towards the stack of mail ready for the post office. Cascading over the edge of the desk towards my work bag which sat on the floor. Streaming underneath the other items on my desk.

For a moment, I just sighed. And then, I realized I needed to stop the spilt coffee from running that I grabbed a towel from the bathroom around the corner and began mopping up the creamy brown liquid.

A whole bunch of thoughts ran through my head while trying stop the coffee spread.

Of course, I would spill coffee on this day that I was trying to be prompt.

Of course, it would go right towards the stack of mail waiting to be deposited in the mailbox. (My apologies if you received one of those coffee-stained envelopes.)

Of course, all I had to do was move the coffee cup … and I didn’t.

This seems to happen about every six months or so. You would think that I would learn, right?

Wrong.

In about another six months, I‘ll pull this little stunt once again.

And as the coffee gets split and runs towards things I would rather it didn’t, I’ll find myself going through an internal litany of, “You know better!” Or “Again?” Or “Seriously? Haven’t you learned your lesson?”

Watching the cream-ladened liquid inched towards the things I didn’t want it to, my mind saw this as a tiny metaphor for 2020. The year began with so much anticipation, excitement and opportunity. Only to have spilt coffee run over so many areas of our lives that we never anticipated. Our lives forever stained with residual fall-out from an unforeseen virus, race challenges and financial turbulence. Thrown in a polarizing election and continued uncertainty and we’ve ended up with lots of spilt coffee running into nearly every area of our lives.

Like you, I’ve seen the posts: “I’m so over 2020.” Or “I’m so done with COVID.” Or “Bring on 2021.”

So many of us are experiencing emotional, mental, spiritual and physical fatigue. We’re ready for something “normal,” although we’re not really sure normal will happen again in the same way.

Yet, I am constantly reminded how BLESSED I am.

I’m not living with ration cards as my parents and grandparents did during World War II.

I’m not watching nearly every male family member head off to was as so many families did during the Civil War.

I’m not wondering if the bank will open today and whether the cash in my wallet will be worth anything like in the days after the first Black Friday.

We many feel the sacrifices and challenges and hits we’ve taken during 2020 have been significant. Huge. Life-changing. And they are and should be.

Yet, maybe, just maybe, we learned something even more important in 2020. What truly is important. Less really is better. When we see spilt coffee running into areas of our lives, which of those areas we want to protect the most.

We have another 16 days left of 2020: 16 days that are often the most precious time of the year because these are the days in which we celebrate the Savior’s birth. Days I do not want us to skip over simply because we are so over 2020. But rather, days that we honor. Cherish. And remember why a Savior came into this world.

Sometimes, we focus on the Savior’s presence on earth to save us from an eternal place that isn’t what we want. But the Savior is so much more than this. The Savior is also here to save us from the evils of this world. The thoughts that keep us from being the person God designed us to be. The realization that we need saving EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

This is the Savior that I pray we discover and find and embody this Advent and Christmas season: A Savior that is here with us right now. Right here. And just wants us to find a right relationship with a God that has already accomplished everything necessary for us.

These next 16 days let’s discover a Savior that yearns to wipe up the spilt coffee in our lives that too often draws us away from where our time, attention and energy should be. I pray we discover a Savior that is with us today and every day because we need help dealing with the constant spilt milk situations in our lives.

And this, my friends, is reason enough to relish and cherish these last days of 2020. Yes, it’s been anything but a normal year. Yet, there are lessons we can all learn from spilt coffee. If we only slow down and see them. Feel them. Embody them.

For lessons from the split coffee in my life, I am grateful.

Blessings –

Dianne

Dear God – the split coffee is all over our lives this year. Nonetheless, soon, we will have the opportunity to celebrate the Savior’s birth. During this Advent, I pray we ARE preparing our hearts for the way of the Lord. May we see these next days as so special we relish every. Single. One. Amen.

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