One of my favorite quotes of all time is, “Trust but verify.” - Ronald Reagan
When we are at the cabin, I usually wake up first, and try to be extra quiet so as to not wake Terry. One morning I woke up and was kicking myself for not getting the coffee pot ready the night before. This is usually one of the last things I do before we head to bed. I make sure there is plenty of water in the coffee maker, set out two mugs and put a coffee pod in place. This particular morning, however, I woke up to the realization that the night before, I was too tired (or lazy) to do what I do, every single night.
As I reached for a coffee, there were none. The holder was completely empty.
I opened the cabinet above the coffee maker and there were none there, either. I turned to the kitchen island and opened the drawer where I keep the extra coffee … none.
“Dadgummit.” I muttered. I was going to have to walk into the laundry room where the pantry is, and get a box of coffee down from the shelf. This meant taking the ladder in there (because I’m much too short to reach up) and wake up Rusty, in the process. Rusty is a Vizsla, and he has two speeds. “On” and “Off.” In other words, when Rusty is awake, he is full speed, on. Only when he is asleep is he ever, “off.” I actually contemplated how badly I needed a cup of coffee at that point, and whether or not I could just wait until Terry woke up before having a cup.
I walked back over to the coffee maker and turned the pod holder around, and lo and behold, there was an entire side, filled with coffee.
Too often, we trust without verifying. I never even verified to myself the other side of the pod holder was empty. I just woke up tired, and did not trust what I could not see.
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” - Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
We cannot always see what is the next step in front of us, but we cannot have a “gloom and doom” outlook, the way I did the morning I thought I was out of coffee. We have to trust God, in everything. “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” As I spun that coffee holder around and saw the full side of coffee, this scripture leapt to my mind, and I shook my head at myself. “How often do you do this with God, Aimee?” I asked myself.
I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer or a Gloom and Doom kind of thinker when I cannot trust what I do not see. I want to be optimistic in my faith because I know God is in control. My faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
As my precious Terry and I are in a transition phase in our lives, the coffee pod holder was a reminder to me. Just because I cannot see what’s next, doesn’t mean God isn’t mapping it out for us. Same goes for you. We all have to remember His plan for us is the evidence of things we cannot see.