It all started with our trip to Spain last November to lead a spiritual retreat for the international workers of Christian & Missionary Alliance Spain. During our two weeks there, we fell in love with coffee…their coffee! Try as we might explain it, there was something really special about coffee in Spain. Adding to our delight, one of the international workers was a connoisseur; ‘everything coffee’ was in his backpack, in his house, on his lips. He told us everything we needed to know to make a good cup of coffee. Armed with that info, we came home excited to change our coffee experience!
Since Christmas was just around the corner, top of Robin’s Christmas list was a coffee grinder. We had learned that it must be a burr grinder…and Amazon had plenty. Researching was easy: the right cost and right reviews narrowed the field. With little effort, we found our grinder. To top it off, it could be delivered in time for Christmas!
The delivery date arrived and Amazon sent an email that said: “Your coffee grinder has been delivered to a secure location.” Search as we might, there absolutely was no grinder! We gave it a few days,…giving Amazon the benefit of the doubt; but when we remained grinder-less, we started the journey of dialogue with Amazon. Lo and behold, we then received another email that changed the delivery date and we breathed a sigh of relief…there was hope after all; but that, too, proved an empty promise. Again, we reached out to Amazon. They, too, were non-plussed to understand what had happened and offered to return the money to our account. We took them up on the offer!
After a brief search, we found the same grinder at the same price in a local store. Robin would get his gift in time for the Christmas tree after all! Saga ended…or so we thought.
A few days before the 25th, we came home from Christmas shopping to find Amazon’s grinder at the front gate of our farm property…soaking wet! (Think Seattle rain.) Now we had two grinders…and another phone conversation with Amazon.
After explaining the situation, we said: “You have refunded us the cost of a grinder which we now have in our possession; how do we refund the refund?” “You can’t; we have no capability to receive refunds.” “What do we do with the grinder?” “Keep it; it costs us too much to receive it back.” We could hardly believe our ears…and our good fortune: a free grinder we could gift to someone who also wanted to make a good cup of coffee!
What an experience in perspective and response. What we ‘perceived’ in the journey was “There’s no grinder comin’. “…when actually the grinder was always comin’ but just got delayed. Our response was propelled by our perspective…and our expectation of a grinder under the Christmas tree. Throw into the mix impatience and you have what we got…a saga!
Need I say the obvious? When God makes a promise which causes us to hope, then we need to wait with patience until it comes into the visible. Paul mentions this very truth when talking about something far more weighted than a coffee grinder. He says our hope is the resurrection of our body (Romans 8:24)…
“but if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:25 NIV)
Hope comes in all sizes and shapes, colors and hues. Whatever your hope is, anchor yourself in the God who has promised. His delays will bring blessing that far exceeds your hope.
Marcia
