Smell the Coffee

What I love about coffee is it is part sedative, part motivator, and now part fund raiser all at the same time.

The reason I started this blog last May was to raise awareness about the adoption my family and I were pursuing at the time. Adoption is not for the faint at heart because it takes a continuous effort of filling out paperwork, meeting the country’s criteria, and paying fees when they become due. Overall, a very overwhelming process in which you can easily lose focus and heart. Yet, when the end result is finally realized, it becomes well worth the fight.

So, if the spirit leads, there is an interesting way for you to join us in our adoption journey. It’s real simple and you needn’t even leave your house. Just sit back in your computer chair, click on the JUST LOVE icon and purchase a bag of coffee. When you do my family gets $5 sent directly to our adoption agency, so everybody wins. You get a great cup of coffee and we get closer to bringing a child to their forever home.

I know a small thing like this may appear to have little effect on the big picture, but I disagree and so does Jesus. He said in Matthew 10:42, “And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”

That reminds me of the time this past winter when God used this verse on me. I was at a local Wal-Mart and it must have been about twenty degrees outside when I walked past the Salvation Army guy going in and then fifteen minutes later, walked past his partner on the way out. Earlier that day, I asked God to use me and the answer now seemed obvious. If I could not give out cold water, how about hot coffee for two freezing guys who were doing something noble. Somehow, their simple thank you and God bless you did more to warm my reluctant heart than the coffee actually did in warming them. It felt right to act on something instead of just driving away and thinking, “oh well, they’ll be warm soon enough,” when I possessed the ability to change their situation instantly.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” ~Aesop

Swavel

Pleasant Aroma

On a normal work day I arrive early to make a pot of coffee. There is nothing quite like hearing the coffee maker percolate as the pleasant aroma drifts in my general direction. Nothing awakens me in the morning like a cup of Joe and exchanging pleasantries with others.

Every so often I stop by a store to get a cup of coffee. There is always a kind smile to greet me from a sweet elderly lady, who chats with me as if we were old friends. It never ceases to amaze me how much I look forward to her cheerful greeting. The odds are she isn’t making an exorbitant amount of money, yet she offers a pleasant aroma that even the seven varieties of coffee cannot.

Occasionally I order out for my family. When I arrive to pick up my order, I always wonder what’s on the other side of the door. Will the pizza dude behind the counter be carefree or cranky? In my experience, a lot of people are a product of what is going on around them. If things are unpleasant in their life or if they are having a bad day, it influences their outlook and they act irritable. So, despite his disposition I still go back because I like the food and maybe my pleasant aroma will rub off on him.

Perhaps, instead of focusing on other’s attitudes we should put more energy into creating a pleasant aroma. With that thought in mind we should remember George Eliot’s words, “Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.”

Swavel