Coffee karma

Cup o’ humility, anyone? (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

In my Dec. 18 blog, “What to do about it,” I offered several simple ways for us to get our minds off the Sandy Hook tragedy, like purchasing coffee for the person behind you in a Starbuck’s drive-thru.  Holly and I did this several times over the holidays.  We didn’t require a thank you or any recognition from anyone.  It just made us feel better about the world, and hopefully, it made the person in the car behind feel a little better, too.

On my way to work this morning, the tables were turned.  The guy in front of me at Starbuck’s bought my coffee.

Although it resulted in the effect I’m sure he was hoping for — I was surprised and pleased — it also had another, unexpected result.  Shame.

You see, we had to sit in the line for quite some time — me in my old pickup truck and he in his big, black Lexus sedan.  Each time the line would move up one vehicle, he was slightly slow about closing the gap in front because he was looking at his smart phone.  I could see this clearly and became annoyed despite the fact that we couldn’t have gotten through the line any quicker.  After about the third time, I started in with the grumbling under my breath.  Move on up, dumb***.  Get your head out of your butt.  Blah, blah, blah...

And then, I’m notified by the smiling barista that the man bought my coffee.

Ooops.

Imagine Bill Lumberg from the movie “Office Space” saying, “Yyyyeaah, I’m just gonna need you to run on home and hide in the corner for awhile.  Greeaaat.”

You probably don’t need me to connect the dots about this lesson, but I will just for my own humility.  I think God presents these little situations for us as gentle reminders:  Put your faith into practice every day — not just Sunday mornings.  Don’t make assumptions about people.  He may have been checking on a sick parent or a pregnant wife.

Thank you, Lord.  This lesson has been duly noted and filed where I can easily access it for future reference.