In the past, when my husband, Bob, and I fell on hard times, he used to joke that, “We’re too poor to pay attention.”

Financial issues aside, paying attention is pretty important. So important, in fact, that neglecting to do so can be downright messy.

Take the other evening, for example.

Our church was in the middle of week-long revival services, headed by a seminary student from Texas; something we do once a year in early spring.

It was Tuesday evening right before the service was scheduled to begin. Knowing there was a good hour ahead of me before I could go home and eat, I went into the church kitchen to forage for a little snack to tide myself over.

Not finding much, I walked back to the foyer where there’s a small table upon which we keep a little glass bowl of assorted mints and candies. Remembering that the previous evening there had been individually wrapped butterscotch hard candies in the bowl, I prepared to grab a few, taste buds at the ready — I love anything that’s butterscotch-flavored.

To my great disappointment, I discovered that all of the lovely little golden discs were gone, no doubt consumed the previous evening by some greedy glutton. (What can I say? I got hungry.) To make matters even worse, the only remaining candy selection was peppermints. While I realize this definitely places me in the confectionary minority, I must admit that I really, really dislike peppermint.

This was a conundrum. Should I take a peppermint since that was my only choice, or do without altogether and hope my growling stomach wouldn’t be heard over the preaching?

As I deliberated, I suddenly noticed a small bag sitting off to the side of the table with the word “Butterscotch” written on it in fancy letters. Hmm … that was odd. I couldn’t recall ever seeing butterscotch candies coming in such an elegant bag.

Picking up the sack, I made ready to replenish the candy dish. Opening it, I discovered another, smaller, foil bag inside, closed with a silver twist-tie. It sort of reminded me of one of those Russian nesting dolls, pretty impressive.

Untwisting it, I proceeded to up-end the contents into the candy dish, expecting to hear the gentle “clink” of butterscotchy goodness. Instead, I heard a “whoosh!” followed by a little brown mountain of ground coffee, which filled the glass bowl and spilled out onto the table around it.

Standing there, shocked and clutching the now empty bag, I decided to read the smaller print directly below “Butterscotch.” It said, “Aromatic Flavored Coffee.” I hadn’t been paying attention. I spent the next several minutes trying to scoop the coffee out of the candy dish and back into the bag with little success. In fact, all I accomplished was to scatter even more coffee outside the bag and onto the carpet below the table. What a mess!

You know, our Christian walk can be that way sometimes. God tries to communicate with us through situations and circumstances, but we’re not paying attention.

What might the Lord be trying to tell you?