Coffee, coffee everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

But godliness with contentment is great gain. (1 Timothy 6:6)

I’m at home sick today for the third day in a row.  Now, Monday is usually my day off anyway, but to spend it sick is no fun.  To make matters worse, I went to make my second cup of coffee this morning, and remembered an important fact: I used the last of my sugar on my first cup.  So, I currently have a pot of warm coffee on a cold day, but I can’t drink any of it.

Isn’t it ironic?  Dontcha think?

But here’s the bright side: my beautiful wife is at the store right now doing the first-of-the-month shopping, and sugar is on the list!  The worst I have to bear is a few hours without sugar.  Let’s imagine the situation was worse, and I hadn’t budgeted my sugar usage to get to the end of the month.  Worst-case scenario, maybe I go a few days without sugar, and that’s if I don’t borrow some from a neighbor.

In the millisecond between realizing I was out of sugar and thus couldn’t have my beloved coffee and the ensuing pity party one might expect from a grown man who has the sickies, a reassuring thought hit me.

At least I’m only out of sugar.

You see, God has been teaching me a lot about thankfulness and contentment in the last couple of years.  He’s been showing me how much I truly have.  No matter how tight things have gotten, my family has not gone hungry.  We’ve had clothes to keep us warm, an amazing home to live in, great health and access to healthcare.  I may have pined away about being without ice cream on a given evening.  My kids may have whined about not having all the action figures they wanted.  But we have never gone without the real necessities.

I mentioned that I’m sick today.  The reason I’m sick is that my whole family has been sick since Wednesday.  One by one, we fell prey to some upper-respiratory villain.  My youngest son was the first.  He got it the worst: fever, throwing up, coughing, the whole thing.  After a few days of monitoring, my wife took him to the doctor.  They gave us some medicine, told us what to watch for, and we’ve been doing so with the whole family since then.  Many of us wouldn’t even think twice about something like this.

When I went to Romania, I met several people who were suffering with illnesses of varying severity who had little to no access to healthcare.  One of the great prayers I heard lifted up among the Țigani people was that God would give them enough branches.  I didn’t understand at first, until I realized that they were asking God to provide them with enough scrap wood to burn to keep their homes warm during the cold winter months.

There are those in other parts of the world – even in our own back yard – who have similar or even worse problems.  There are those who cannot even get clean water to drink, let alone coffee.

So, praise God that I’m out of sugar today.  Thank God that I still have a healthy family, a warm house, and food to eat!  Thank you, God for providing for my needs in such an abundant way that I might be able to be generous to others.  Help me, Lord, to help others.

Especially those who can’t help themselves.

As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
their righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:9-11)