“Thanks for coming to _______, my name is Jake. Would you like to try one of our new fatty pastries that not only goes straight to your love handles but also hardens your arteries?”
That last part was made up and I’m not willing to say which coffee company I worked for because they have enough money to send a hit man after me if I talk too much crap. Not that I’m a huge concern for the multinational organization but sometimes, I like to think that I have to act in the interest of self-preservation; it just makes life more interesting. If someone is going to kill me, it’ll be for a reason that’s at least semi-meaningful. Anyway, after welcoming the customer to the drive-through where they’d spend at least five dollars on a drink, a common response was,
“Hi, Jake. It’s So-and-so. The guy who comes here every single day of the week and orders exactly the same thing and never tips. I’ll have my usual.”
At which point, I’d start racking my brain while I punched in their order then prepared myself for conversation with someone who I should have remembered a little better. This happened with a lot of people. Tons of people buy coffee every day. Some of them, more than once a day. Every now and again we’d miss a regular for a day or two. By we, I mean my boss and some other people. I didn’t miss customers and rarely noticed when they didn’t come in several days in a row.
A few disappeared. Without warning, they just stopped coming in and giving us ridiculous amounts of money. I could only imagine they moved to Arkansas, died, went bankrupt, or we really made them mad and therefore would never see them ever again. When this happened, it took me a while to notice their absence. I could almost always rely on one of my co-workers to say something about it.
It’s like watching a child or plant grow, or when somebody changes a photograph but leaves the gaudy, gold frame in the exact same place on the wall. Sometimes, it takes a while to notice that the kid is a foot taller and that the picture on the wall isn’t your friend’s girlfriend who dumped him more than a month ago, but rather, it’s a larger than life photo of his cat. I think the same principle may apply to truth.
I walk in truth every single day. I promise this isn’t intentional. It isn’t unintentional, either. Some notions and expressions of verity can’t be escaped. God wins. He loves us. His amazing Son died on a cross for us. We win. Every Jesus-person knows this stuff but we find ourselves walking by it day after day. We interact with a love that’s growing inside of us and changing us all the time. Sometimes we don’t notice not that it disappeared, like one of the coffee shop regulars but rather, that a lie has crept in. It grew a little off-kilter, the photograph was replaced and instead of Jesus being in the frame, we see ourselves, dreams, loved ones and sometimes, it really is some stupid cat.
The truth didn’t die, we just didn’t guard it because it became common. Its novelty wore off because it was always around.. Familiarity killed our attention span. So even though truth shouldn’t surprise us, because it’s so common, it sometimes does. Thankfully, the Spirit of truth manages it all for us. Thankfully, we can count on Him to remind us if we ever need it.
Has God had to remind you of a simple truth lately?
lately? 🙂
How about nearly daily? lol
Tammy, you’re right- so many things are really that common and therefore, are that neglected.
Pretty sure I would notice a picture of THAT cat!
Truth smacked me in the face last Friday through a family member telling me what he learned in a study of Revelation. The teacher’s conclusions were completely whack. Wrote about it today.
Kathy, I’m pretty sure it isn’t a cat, but a demon, masquerading as a feline. I could be wrong. I loved what you wrote today. Your examples were wonderful!
First off – that is one creepy looking cat! I definitely wouldn’t want it hanging in my house. Ever.
As for God having to remind me of some simple truths, I think the biggest ones are that He does have a plan for me and that He does love me. Those are the two truths I tend to make too common. I know them, I’ve wrestled with them in my life, but sometimes I just need that reminder.
I’m with you on those- they’re so common that they almost just seem like nice things that can’t impact our lives. Keyword there is seem, but still. and I hate cats- one of my coworkers has one and has always had one which I don’t approve of for any human, but especially this guy because he’s single, old and is creepily obsessed with his cat.
God reminds me of a truth almost daily, even when I’m trying to pay attention. Your right our human emotion and short memories betray us constantly. It’s so easy to miss the majesty of God every second of every day. His love is so encompassing all of us miss it. The lost world even denies it. Thanks for the reminder… Coffee Boy! Oh the little nuggets we learn along the way… (insert evil laugh here) Thanks for sharing Jake, good stuff.
Floyd, I worked at a “coffee place that shall remain nameless” for my last couple of years at Boise State. I had gotten laid off from my church and had to work somewhere that worked with my insane school and church schedules. I have to say, I loved the people there.
As far as things changing right under our noses? Yesh. All the time, they disappear or morph in to whatever types of abstraction because we didn’t pay attention!