Moving Mountains with a Coffee Bean...

I’m a believer. A believer in miracles, that is. I know that God works small miracles every single day, I’m not a skeptic …just since Jesus left the Earth doesn’t mean that God doesn’t heal a wound, multiple a couple fish, or cause the blind to see anymore. We don’t always do a great job of celebrating His miracles, but they are there.

Today, for example, I had a small miracle occur. It was more a chance for me to slow down and remember that I don’t have to control everything, and asking for help is usually the best alternative when we feel a heavy burden.

I’m not being melodramatic, as a Starbucks rush is as good a place as any for a “writing on the wall” miracle, but I was healed today, at Starbucks. I was working register, and the barista was busting her tail, whipping out drinks during a rush (a rush constitutes four or more people in line as that is four or more drinks that have to be made by one person…since there were only two of us, that meant I was taking names aka money, and the barista was doing the drinks- steaming milk, espresso…and I was watching coffee brewer status, condiment bar, café area, pastry case, etc…). In other words, we were busy and I didn’t have time to much less think about anything outside of the present moment. Disaster struck…tiny disaster…I obtained a small scrape when I was cutting open a 5 lb bag of espresso beans and I inevitably started to bleed.

As per Starbucks- if we have a cut, we are supposed to gracefully “bow out” of our duties to take care of said injury (and we are required to wear not just a band-aid but plastic gloves which is akin to wearing a white t-shirt with a scarlet letter B for Blood on it…might as well be written in blood because who wants to give their money to someone with plastic GLOVES on their hand?? I mean a BANDAID is bad enough…basically screams GERMS!!! And someone making drinks with gloves on is not allowed because that is a fire hazard waiting to happen…as I am picturing plastic melting from the steam wands and having boiling milk and plastic all over myself and my pristine apron…)
So, I am contempla
ting this dire situation while the barista is slaving away…I take a very QUICK inventory of the situation in the back room and I pray, “God, I don’t need you to part the sea of coffee, but I need a quick healing of my finger…I need to not be bleeding and I need to REALLY not have a cut on my hand…I need Your Power to stop the blood flow in my body, not to the point I am dead, but just from flowing so fast to my extremities…because these Sunday church people will be incensed with the spirit that is NOT of You if they don’t have their coffee” (Okay, so my prayer wasn’t that long, but you get the gist…)

And when I walked to the front, I was blood free, a small band-aid had rescued the cut that was not even visible to the naked eye from harming any customers. I was healed…and coffee was served. Church was attended by all…and people were awake with the spirit of God…and caffeine.

This evening, I had the pleasure of watching an incredibly interesting show that consists of CEOs of major corporations (7Eleven, Hooters, etc…) to step down and join their “workers” undercover in the field… They basically monitor the everyday happenings of their companies from the bottom up. It was fascinating because they discovered some great (and not-so-great) facts about their usually hard-working employees. In one situation, a manager was later reprimanded for doing a horrible job with his morale in the store…in other situation a factory worker was given a promotion and money to buy a franchise. How cool is that to know that just by doing a good job, great dividends can transpire?

It makes me want to change everyone that comes through those doors at Starbucks. I know I have said that I try to make everyone feel special and I get especially frustrated when someone leaves unhappy or not completely satisfied with their experience. I know that not everyone comes in there to be welcomed or to even have to chat with the workers, but I feel like if I can pull something out of them that makes them smile or makes them appreciate their day or their situation (or plight) in life, then I have done a good job.

I know that I don’t have a lot to offer. I say this humbly, not self-consciously. I am very confident of my gifts and abilities only because I know what lies underneath the surface is a foundation built in Faith in God for small and big miracles and built in a good company and good co-workers. If I was working in a bitter environment, I would be probably become a bitter employee. But I work with employees that I would love to see blessed by a CEO with some big gift. I get teary eyed (much easily in my older age) as I think about lives being changed by the more fortunate. I work with a couple single moms…and to think that one day someone would come in and tell them- we are paying for your child’s college or we are buying you a new car or we are building you a house or we are giving you a check. It makes my heart explode with happiness for them. I work side by side with some of the most amazingly kind people.

Watching the CEOs get “down and dirty” tugged at my heart because they were seeing the small, mundane tasks that are done (for the most part) without grumbling by some of the most underappreciated people. It made me happy to be a part of a good team. A team that is blessed by the accolades of a lot of appreciative customers! Touché, baristas…touché.