Lessons from the Coffee Maker

Here's how the day usually starts around here.  My husband typically wakes up before I do, and he makes the coffee.  That way it's ready when I wake up.  And that's how we got started this morning.  Except that Al got up a little later than he normally does, so he was in something of a hurry to get the coffee made before I got up.  In his rush to get the job done, he forgot to put the carafe in place and as a result, when I got up I found coffee pouring out of the coffee maker all over the cabinet and the floor, while the carafe sat rather uselessly nearby!

Now before you jump to the conclusion that this post is meant in any way to criticize Al and blame him for this mishap, let me correct that assumption right away.  For starters, over the years I have done the same thing myself.  More than once!  But more importantly, being critical of how he made the coffee is the farthest thing from my mind.  It would be impossible to overstate how much I appreciate that he makes coffee every morning.  You see, he's not a coffee drinker!  He doesn't make coffee every morning so that he can get a cup and get started on the day.  He does it as a love gift to me.  He does it so that the coffee is there for me whenever I get up.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love this man?!!

But, as the Scottish poet Robert Burns once wrote, "The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry."  And that definitely happened this morning! 

I think we can learn a couple of things from this morning's "incident".  The first is that it's never really a good idea to get in too big a hurry.  More often than not, being in a rush can lead to a mishap.  As in this morning's rush to get the coffee made.  As another example, Al has an appointment this afternoon with an orthopedist to review results of his MRI which was necessary because in his rush to get into his seat on an airplane back in September, he hurt his knee.  Or there's the day, back in March '05, when I was in a rush to get out the door and walk the dog so I could get back to whatever I was doing, but ended up falling in a heap, shattering my ankle, dislocating my foot, and doing irreparable ligament damage......all of which still cause problems to this day.  Maybe if I hadn't been in such a hurry, none of that would have happened.  Who knows?  Anyway, my point is.....being in a hurry is never really a good idea.  Accidents are more prone to happen.  Bad decisions are made.  Mistakes are more likely.

You may have heard the expression (I know my sons often have!)....."if you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

That's one of the lessons from the coffee maker this morning - don't get in too big a hurry - and a reminder I think we all need from time to time.

After the mess had been cleared up this morning and as the next pot of coffee was brewing, I checked the Bible app on my phone for the "verse of the day".  This is what I read:

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."  (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)

I think that's the more important lesson from the coffee maker this morning, one I have been pondering as I sit here enjoying my second (or is it third?) cup of coffee.  In marriages, in families, in the workplace, in the neighborhood, in the church......there are many times we might feel frustrated, we might feel we have been wronged, we might be irritated with another person.  How are we to respond?

What's the right way to respond when my coffee isn't ready? 

How do you respond when you're irritated?  When you're frustrated because your spouse never picks up his/her (whatever)?  When they have lost their keys or their phone or their (whatever)?  When they don't do (folding the towels, making the bed, loading the dishwasher, taking out the garbage, whatever......) they way you want it done?  Are you, am I, "kind and compassionate"?

The easy thing is to snap.  To bite their head off.  To be sarcastic.  Or cruel. And we've all had our moments, haven't we?  Those times when we have been less than "kind and compassionate", less than "forgiving".

But let's look at that verse a little more closely.  Paul, the author of Ephesians, was writing to Christians.  To the church at Ephesus.  This instruction is not given to your unbelieving neighbor.  To the "pagan" in the office.  It's to you, to me.  To those of us who call ourselves Christians!

And it isn't a suggestion.  This is an imperative sentence.  In case you weren't paying attention in English class, that means, simply put, that it is a command.  This is not an option.  There is no qualifying clause.  No "if you feel like it" or "if the other person deserves to be treated kindly" or "as long as they don't mess up the coffee or make a mess in the garage or as long as they do things exactly my way."  Hmmmm.....

Maybe you aren't a big fan of the NIV, the translation I quoted from earlier.
I don't think it matters.  It reads pretty much the same in every translation I looked at! 

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."  (Ephesians 4:32 ESV)

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."  (Ephesians 4:32 NASB)

"And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another (readily and freely), as God in Christ forgave you.  (Ephesians 4:32 AMP)

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."  (Ephesians 4:32 KJV)

"Be gentle with one another, sensitive.  Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you."  (Ephesians 4:32 MSG)

So that's my big lesson from the coffee maker.....the reminder from my daily verse on my phone. Perhaps it's a reminder that you needed today as well, and there it is!  All because their was a mishap with my morning coffee.