The $272 Coffee

When the Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’” (John 4:7)

I was racing home from a doctor’s appointment, late for a meeting. Then I remembered I hadn’t had coffee. For me, coffee is a habit more than a caffeine fix, so I pulled into a shop I had never been to before called Summer Moon.

I ordered what I always order. A hot vanilla latte with almond milk. The total came up to $272.57, and I insisted something was wrong with the order to the barista.

A woman in a pink blazer was in the corner, paying for every order in the shop from 8am to 11am that day. I walked over and thanked her, just like many others did after they realized the same thing I did. I expected her to say something about blessing people, or paying it forward. Instead she told me this.

“The reason I do this every week, is to find common ground with people and get to spend a moment with them.”

Principle

Noticing an interruption is not the same as acting on it. The woman at Summer Moon did not just notice people needing coffee. She acted on it, every week, for three hours. The interruption is only the opening. What you do inside the moment of opportunity is generosity.

Reflection

You already have interruptions in your daily life. The line at the coffee shop, the stranger stuck behind you in line at the grocery store, and the person you pass every day on your way downtown for work. Noticing them is step one, and most of us stop there. We feel the tug, and then we keep walking.

Acting is different and if we are honest it costs us something. It costs a few extra minutes, an awkward first sentence, the risk of a stranger not knowing what to do with your generosity. The woman in the corner paid for it in dollars and in hours. That is not an accident. Real acting on an interruption usually costs more than noticing it did.

Activation

Take ten minutes right now and mark your routine, the same coffee shop, the same commute, the same waiting room. Name three people you see regularly but have never actually engaged.

Then engage one of them this week. Learn a name. Buy a coffee. Ask one real question. The way she did and the way Jesus did.

Sticky Note

Seeing is not generous. Acting is.