Episode
The Coffee Mug
- Podcast
- Grace for All
- Published
- Sep 21, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 359
- Processing state
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- https://graceforall.captivate.fm/episode/the-coffee-mug
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Summary
Lamentations 3:22-23 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. One of the last Christmas presents I received from my Mammaw before she died was a coffee mug. I should back up a bit to say that even as a teenager and young adult — at whatever point in my life I started realizing a bit about how far money goes — I marveled at Mammaw’s gift giving. A lady with nine living children, many of whom have spouses, more than a dozen grandchildren, many of whom also have spouses, and even great-grandchildren never skipped anyone over for Christmas, despite subsisting on a paltry Social Security check. I can remember Christmases in which I received socks that had clearly been part of a larger package that she divided to give to multiple people. It was quite common that she would recycle the cardboard boxes that her cereal came in so she would have boxes for all the gifts. To this day, I am astounded at her ability to express her love through giving on the most limited of budgets. So, it makes sense at my surprise one year receiving a lovely coffee mug with some sort of flavored coffee. On the mug is inscribed the statement, a paraphrase of today’s verse: “God’s promises are new every morning.” For a few years, I used that mug every Sunday morning as I got ready for church, and I thought of Mammaw every time I did. As I said, it turned out to be one of the last gifts I received from her. You can imagine my heartbreak, then, when the mug tipped over and the handle broke. We glued it, and it still worked, but it tipped again, breaking in new spots. Eventually, I decided it wasn’t a good idea to continue drinking from it, as it’s just too fragile. So now, it just rests on the counter, braced b…