A couple years ago, my husband and I ran into one of our favorite coffee shops for a caffeine fix. I expected to leave with a vanilla latte in hand. I did not expect to be reminded that God does miracles in His time, in His space.
I really did not expect to find this reminder on a package of coffee. And I especially did not expect this illustration to come from a play in a football game.
See, while we were waiting at the counter for our drinks to be made, I spied a package of “Skol Vikings Blend” coffee near the counter.
We live in Minnesota, where the Vikings are our hometown football team, and that coffee shop chain had created a special blend in their honor. We are a football family. We watch games every week without fail, because my son absolutely loves the game – loves it – and the Vikings are his team. He used his own money to join the Vikings Kids Club, roots for his beloved Vikes no matter what the scoreboard says, dresses in jerseys and eyeblack whenever possible, and plans to be a Viking when he grows up. He’s brought his sisters into loving the game and has big plans for teaching his little brother how to play when he’s a little bigger.
My boy has turned me into a fan too — especially of the family time watching the game brings. All that in mind as I stood at the coffee shop counter, I thought it would be fun to bring home some “football coffee,” so we bought the bag of beans along with our lattes and headed back to the car to complete our errands.
Then right there in the passenger seat of our minivan, I teared up as I read the description on the side of the package:
Just like a good cup of coffee, the Vikings have a special way of bringing us Minnesotans together. As we cheer on the team to rock ’em, sock ’em, and fight fight fight each week, we learn that when us Northerners come together as one, there’s not much we can’t accomplish. And that ten seconds is plenty of time for a miracle.
That last sentence, right on the back of the bag of coffee beans, stopped me right in my tracks.
In 2017, during a game — the final ten seconds of the game, to be exact — Minnesota Vikings player Stefon Diggs caught a twenty-seven-yard pass and ran it to the end zone for a touchdown as the clock ran out. The announcer went absolutely wild (as did the stadium), and he excitedly hollered that it was “a Minneapolis miracle.” The title and clip of the play went viral — you can see the “miraculous” play here. I vividly remember this game, mostly because my husband whooped so loud that our football-loving son got out of bed and came downstairs, and then we let him stay up and watch the replay.
Ten seconds is all it took for this play to make record books, to get millions of hits on the internet, to be called a miracle, to change history for a few folks.
And isn’t that so reminiscent of the true miracles of God?
How long did it take for Jesus to do His miraculous form of multiplication with a few loaves and some fish? How about when He swapped water for wine? With crowds gathered in both of those locations, hungry and thirsty, I can’t imagine that Jesus took a long time to make these miracles happen. People were waiting.
Sometimes God keeps us waiting. Other times, all He needs is ten seconds.
Okay, so I’m not actually comparing the “Minneapolis miracle” to those listed in Scripture, but it did remind me to take pause and remember how many times the miracles in life have taken very little time — when the car stops just in time to avoid being hit by an oncoming car, when I catch my toddlers’ hand just before the van door closes on it, when the diagnosis comes in and they say it was caught in the nick of time, when the phone call is made minutes before the decision comes through and the conversation changes the final decision. You know what I mean? How many times have we cut it too close for comfort and whispered, “Oh, thank you God!”?
And that’s just the protection kind of miracle.
When I raise my eyes from this computer, I see my four children who are absolutely miraculous in their own right, especially considering the years of infertility and miscarriages that came before and alongside them. All people, really, are total miracles. So very many things have to happen correctly in order to fully develop a human being, with all neurons firing, bodies forming, hearts beating. Each person is a miracle, right there in plain sight.
And then to look outside my window and see the blue sky, the frosted trees, the wonder of snowflakes — each one entirely unique. To hear music pouring from my speakers, artists gifted with both word and voice. To enjoy the transformation coffee goes through as the beans are ground and hot water is poured through. To watch the way ingredients come together, changing from eggs and flour and butter into warm cookies (anyone else think of that scene/quote from Friends? “Ten minutes ago this was all just ingredients!”) To hold a loved one’s hand.
There are more miracles in plain sight, beckoning to be seen.
So today, I raise my mug to you. Here’s to the ten-second miracles all around us. May we see them for ourselves. May we be them for one another.
Originally published on February 11, 2022.
Oh, Anna. How lovely to begin my day reading this. I am always in awe of the miracle of the beautiful sunsets here in Maine, the snowflakes, the lone leaf on an otherwise barren tree. I think about how we need to stop and smell the roses and take in the majesty of God’s creation more often. So many miracles around us. It has been a particularly difficult week here for a dear friend and her husband from my church. The miracle of how they finally got a bed for her husband in Boston, how they got an ambulance to transport him there, etc, etc. These were all miracles because they were so many moments when it looked as though all was lost. I look forward to more miracles today!
Madeline, I hope you don’t mind if I use your last sentence on the whiteboard that I have by my door. Each week I write an inspirational quote or Bible verse so I see it when I leave my house and can enter the world with positive thoughts and feelings. I too look forward to more miracles.
Thank you so much to my niece Abby for sending me this link. This is so me, from being a Vikings fan to my love of snow. I think of God’s miracles every day. From waking up each day to the birth of my daughter (28 years ago). These are only a couple examples of many miracles God has given me. I am so very blessed.
I love this. We are all adults in my family but we are all football and have been all the while my kids were growing up. It has been a bonding experience. I teared up watching that clip of the play. You are so right, God gives us miracles everyday. Let’s be open to His blessings! Thank you for your sweet analogy!
Dear Anna………..I just loved your words today as I have recognized these 10 second miracles so many times in my so far 77 year life. An odd part for me anyway is that sometimes you don’t think of those as miracles until you think back about what you were doing. God does work in his timeline and sometimes we need to wait, but all of a sudden something happens that you were not expecting, but later, you Knew it was God answering one of your prayers, maybe said some years ago, but a miracle anyway. We really need to pay attention to what is going on in our life as we may think that what happened to us today, we may have thought, “Finally” I did something right, when later when we have time to sit down and relax, it wasn’t something we did, it was what I like to call a Godwink which if you have ever watched Hallmark movies, especially around Christmas they do movies based on real life stories and a Godwink is not a coincidence , actually “a Divine Intervention”. I have spoken to many people about these and encouraged them to really THINK about their day and what happened, and many of them had come back to me and told me, I never really thought about it that way. Many think that Miracles are always something big like someone being very sick and not expected to live, but they did. That did happen to me back in 2000 when I was in a drug induced coma due to a doctor giving me the wrong medication and I coded. The doctor told my then husband that I would not survive the night, but sometime during this horrible experience, Jesus appeared to me with my Holy Spirit and Jesus told me that it was not my time, as I had so much to give to other people ; however, the Holy Spirit was whispering in my ear, but Betsy, you must fight, fight, fight. Jesus will give you strength, but you need to not give up. Many people that go to church and read the Bible have not believed me and said it was just a dream, but I know what it was and here I am reading your words and commenting. I’m not sure why they think it was just a dream. I would not make something like that up. So, Anna, I wish to thank you for your devotional today and reminding me of these wonderful things that can happen to you as a “10 second Miracle” that you may not recognize it as that, but these things as you draw closer to God, really do. Bless you for having your children that you and your husband really wanted. I am sure you are wonderful parent to those children and that is so important with the world being what it is these days. Have a Blessed weekend and thanks again for sharing your wisdom and words with us…………….Betsy Basile
Betsy, what a beautiful encounter you had. Thank you for sharing your miracle.
Anna,
Thank you for sharing… Listening open my eyes to see more 10 second miracles today! Just had to share it on Pinterest.
Sending you joy on this Friday,
Lisa Wilt
Thank you Anna for reminding us to look for God working every day in our lives and to be thankful!
What a beautiful reminder that miracles are all around us each day and all we need to do is be open to see them.