what I've learned from coffee--A lenten meditation

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love coffee. There's just something about it first thing in the morning that gets me going. And, no, it's not the caffeine. Okay, it's not just the caffeine. It's all the memories wrapped up into it. There's something about sitting around with friends drinking coffee and eating a slice of pie. There's something about standing around after church, coffee in hand, gabbing away with friends.

Recently, I've realized just how thankful I am for coffee.

We've all gone through hard ache and pain. We've all heard the cry of the catawampus. But what happens at the end of the tunnel? What's the outcome?

For me, it all boils down to coffee. Literally.

Take three items here--carrots, eggs and coffee beans. Carrots are hard, stiff. Eggs are fragile, coffee beans are hard and oily.

When problems hit, they can hit us hard and totally mess with us in ways we'd never like. It's a lot like boiling water. Hot, scalding, violent.

Carrots in boiling water become soft, floppy, and loose a lot of nutrients. So many times, we can run the risk of entering into a season of problems just like that and be beaten up so much we come out just floppy.

Eggs on the other hand get cooked. They look the same on the outside but on the inside they are hard...and that cooked yolk can be bitter. We can run the risk of looking the same on the outside, but be bitter and hard on the inside.

Coffee beans on the other hand are a different story. You put coffee beans in boiling water and you get coffee. Coffee beans change, they are still in boiling water, but the water now becomes coffee. Both change. And, in my open, are better for it.

Now, if life just down right stinks right now, don't become a carrot, don't become an egg. Allow it to stink but don't allow it to change you. Allow it to make you into something wonderful--let it turn you into coffee.

In fact, God promises to make you coffee

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God. Isaiah 43:2-3

Paul says something in Romans that helps me to remember that I will always be coffee because of the grace of God.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

Looking at Easter, it's because of Jesus that we can truly be coffee by the grace of God.

Are you coffee?