Have you heard about Panera Bread’s free coffee deal during the month of April?
It couldn’t have come at a better time. In her final semester of graduate school, our daughter is neck deep in final papers and studies for her comps. Panera Bread is a great place for students and writers to plug in and work a few hours away from the grind and distractions of campus life, the home or workplace. Like her parents, our daughter loves coffee. So Panera’s offer of a free cup of coffee each day during the month of April was perfect timing.
She has a lot of work to do. So much work, she woke up early on the first Saturday in April and decided to get busy. She headed over to Panera, hoping to crank out a rough draft of one of her papers. It’s a college town where she lives. No one is up at 6AM except desperate college students who need to finish research papers. Panera, even with its free coffee, was closed. Argh.
Here’s where the story turns into one of those sweet God graced moments. Someone saw her through the window, unlocked the door and said, “Come on in. We’ve already got a pot of coffee going.”
The clincher? The brewed coffee was hazelnut, her favorite.
By 8:00, she already had one fourth of the paper completed. It was a good morning.
That’s just like our God. He tailors the kindnesses of others to our needs known only by Him. Just think! A simple act you do for a stranger can turn into something big because God knows exactly what that person needed. An extra generous tip to a food server? A hot meal delivered to a family who is in the middle of a crisis? Even a prayer, a hand on the shoulder, a friendly smile with a “Hello, how are you today?” could be exactly what someone needed. I guarantee you that when that clerk started the first pot for the day, then opened the door early for a beleaguered graduate student, he had no idea Hazelnut was her brew of choice. But God knew. He knows our needs—and our delights—even before we can ask for them (Matthew 6:8).
No wonder God is so pleased with those people who listen to His prompts to pass grace forward. It gives Him something to work with.
Matthew 10;42 says,
“And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward”
A cup of cold water. A cup of coffee. A cup of smiles, kind words, or good deeds. God will use it to bless the recipient and the giver. All because He’s our all-knowing, all-powerful and all-loving God.
Isn’t He good?
So next time you feel prompted to open a door for someone, swing it wide open. You never know how God might use your act of kindness to bless that person or how He will bless you for following His lead.
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