coupon

I reach in my pocket grasping for my keys to unlock the cafe. Cafe 41:11 is still asleep; enjoying a few more hours of frosty darkness until the warmth of the sun touches the west side of the building. I pass through the early morning shadows entering the train car in a personal morning fog...but on a mission. (BTW - I'm NOT a morning person!)

My mission?

The rent is due Wednesday, April 1st and every dollar counts. I need to check the donation box.

Once inside, the donuts and the sugar cookies greet me as I stumble through the dimly lit cafe toward the donation box. I fumble my keys searching for the small brass key to the box. It's quiet inside except for the jingling and clanging of my keys echoing off the curved stainless steel ceiling.

Slipping the key into the key hole, I turn my wrist and pull open the donation box door. Envelopes and loose change pour out. My personal morning fog lifts in excitement of what might be inside! I forage through the donations seeing roughly two handfuls of loose change, lots of crinkled one dollar bills, a few five dollar bills, one twenty, and a folded piece of colored paper. Intrigued...I grab the creased piece of paper. At first, I think it might be a handwritten note from a grateful guest. (It's happened before.) But it wasn't a note.

It was a coupon.

It was a coupon for one complimentary Clorox Bleach item. The picture above is the actual coupon. The cafe has been open for a year and a half and a coupon has never been dropped in our box. So I chuckle. It seems funny to me for some reason. (I wasn't making fun of the gift or the giver. It just made me laugh like some form of dry Monty-Python-type humor.) The coupon catches me off guard. It is a unique gift but also very endearing and thoughtful and so I smile and laugh.

Questions fire in my mind...

Was this coupon given to the cafe by a teenager as a joke?

Was it given by someone as a "thank you" for all they've received?

Was it a gift from one of our older guests who doesn't have much?

Maybe...just maybe...the person who gave it felt they needed to give something and this was all they could afford?

With elbows resting on the counter and staring at the coupon in my hands, my brain shoots into light speed accessing that famous passage of Scripture where the widow gives out of her poverty.

"But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on" (NIV, Mark 12:42-44).

Hmmm...(I think to myself)...somebody is giving the cafe coupons. Somebody is giving out of their poverty or it's just an attempt at humor. Either way...this gift kicks butt!

I begin to wonder, if Jesus' earthly ministry happened in 2009, would He have pointed out a widow giving a coupon donation to help His followers understand the heart of giving instead of two copper coins?

I pray you'll continue to give to your church, beloved organization, or missionary. Please do not ever believe that even the gift of a coupon is not appreciated. It is! The cafe doesn't have a bottle of bleach. We could use bleach. This coupon is a special gift even if it may have been a teenage prank. I guess we'll never know. But I do know this...

Whoever gave the cafe this coupon made our donation box more like a nourishing well; one we can go to for sustenance the way a desert well provides water for thirsty travelers. And, I have to say, whoever gave this coupon is always welcome at Cafe 41:11.

Because of this gift and a special check given today, along with so many other kind-hearted donations last week, the cafe has enough money to pay the rent needed April 1st.

Thank you...somebody...for giving.