I saw God at Dunkin’ Donuts.
About three days into a very difficult week, I pulled into the drive-through of the Dunkin’ Donuts on Rt 322 in Richwood on my way to work at Rowan University.
It was a sausage, egg and cheese on a biscuit day.
$3.41.
I knew the price before I inched to the window. I really like those sandwiches.
The clerk handed me the warm bag but wouldn’t take my worn bills and few coins. The person in the car ahead of me already had paid for my order, he said.
Befuddled, not comprehending who the generous driver could be, I asked his identity, expecting someone I knew had caught me in his rear view mirror.
But that was not it. The clerk explained that as that driver had paid for my meal, the driver in front of him had paid for his. And the driver in front of that person had paid for hers. By the time I had reached the window, four or five people had treated the people behind them. I’m not sure how long that continued behind me, but I knew what happened before me and for me was a gift.
My first thought, after I registered what had occurred, was that I had just seen God in action. I traveled the 50 to 100 feet out of the DD lot onto Rt. 322, and before I hit Rt. 55 South was feeling a bit overwhelmed.
I get that way when I experience God’s gifts — weepy or excited or jubilant. A certain song in church, a dog hanging his head out a car window, good news for someone I love, an unexpected kind word — they and much more all have the power to touch me.
God sends us gifts like this often, I believe. We just have to be open to accepting them. We have to be willing to see them.
Me? I saw God at Dunkin’ Donuts.
Patricia Quigley is a member of Incarnation Parish, Mantua.