Good To The Last Drop

GOOD TO THE LAST DROP!

I was thinking this morning about a saintly woman I knew when I was a child -- Alvina Burch, our pastor's wife. She was always "old" to me, but I loved her dearly. She was a great Prayer Warrior, and spent many hours on her knees praying...many of those hours for me, as Rev. Burch told me often.

I remember once going with her to a Retirement Home (we called them 'Old Folks' Homes' in those days [weren't we awful?]). We sang songs and conducted a worship service. She was the speaker/preacher. That day her topic was "Good to the Last Drop."

It was a sort of 'current' title, because it was the slogan of one of the coffee companies -- we saw it on TV and read it in the papers often.

It might have been Maxwell House. I don't remember for sure, but their claim to fame was that every swallow, even to the last drop, was the best available. And she urged her audience to be like that -- showing God's goodness and grace everyday, all day, as long as we have life and breath!

I think about that often. When I speak at our DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) I often talk about Alvina. And how all of us should be "good to the last drop."

Paul talks about it, too.

...I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has call me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14.

I imagine a race and all the runners lined up at the starting position. They have been preparing themselves mentally and physically for this race. The bell sounds and they leap ahead. Then they begin to pace themselves, for it is going to be a long, hard race. They maintain their positions. Lap after lap.
They struggle. Their muscles begin to ache. They have trouble breathing.

But there it is -- the finish line is in sight! They are almost there! Each runner searches inside himself for that final burst of energy. He forgets his aches. He runs faster than ever because he can see the finish line and somewhere, somehow he finds a source of strength and he leaps forward.

That's how we should be -- we don't slow down when we see the finish line-- we speed up!

I once heard a story about Isaac Perlman, the renowned violinist. While playing a concert in New York City, just a moment or two after he began, the audience heard a loud "pop." Most of those watching recognized that fearful sound -- one of his violin strings had broken! Those in the closest rows could see the broken string dangling down and they waited for him to stop and change the string and resume his concert.

But he didn't. He continued playing without a moment's hesitation. He finished the entire concerto.

At the end the audience gave him a standing ovation. They marveled at what he had done: he had played an extremely difficult piece in its entirety on only three strings of his violin.

Later, when he was asked about the performance, he replied, "Sometimes it is an artist's task to find out how much music he can make with what he has left."

When I remember that I think of Joni Tada and so many others, who have lost much, but still make glorious music in God's service with what they have left.

Then there are those (of us) who have lost some time -- maybe even years -- and now we want to make all the music we can with the time we have left. Maybe we let ourselves slip away from God's plan for our lives. Maybe we "dropped out" of His picture. Maybe we openly rebelled against Him. And now we want to make it up -- to spend our time left advancing His Kingdom.

Making up for lost time.....

The prophet Joel talks about this. He told his fellow Israelites that because of their apostasy God was going to punish them. But, and the message is clear, if they will repent and return to God with all their heart, then He will hear them, turn away His wrath, heal them and even restore them to their former glory. God actually says that genuine repentance will be followed by restoration of the lost years. (Joel 2:25)

When we disregard God and begin to run our own lives, we start a downhill slide (a very slippery slide) that takes us further and further away from Him - the One who truly loves us. We begin to miss positive opportunities. We begin to fail in small ways. We begin to feel alienated and lonely. We begin more and more to live for ourselves and forget others. We become miserable and desperate and hopeless.

God can change all that. We cannot undo what was done. Some of the results of sin will linger and pester us. But God can restore much of what "the locusts have eaten."


He can give new opportunities, perhaps even greater than the ones we lost earlier. Friends may have been driven away, but He can help us make new friends -- loyal, loving people who love Him and who love us, and maybe even restore the older friendships.

God can break our sinful patterns and restore our joy and peace and passion for holiness to a level that surpasses what we had before.

Does it make sense? Of course not! God's love is unlimited and it pours out into our hearts without any restraints. Ever seen Niagara Falls?
Or what about that oil spill in the Gulf? God's love is even greater than that. His bottomless fountain of love and grace is the real gusher!


There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more -- and there is nothing we can do to make Him love us less.

That's what grace means. Grace is pretty amazing, isn't it?