God Stuff

The Best Part of Waking Up

fscoffeecup

I like coffee.

Actually, that’s not really true. I LOVE coffee.

I love it like I love Johnny Cash records, a warm Spring day or my first-born son (I don’t actually have children, so I’m imagining that’s what it would be like.)

Now, this wasn’t always the case. Only a few short years ago, I really didn’t like coffee at all. I had a friend though who would stop at Starbucks on the way in to work. She would rave about a drink called a gingerbread latte. “You have to try it! I’m going to bring you one tomorrow,” she said. If you haven’t had a gingerbread latte, let me explain.

It tastes like sugar. And gingerbread. But mostly sugar.

Well, who wouldn’t like that? So, I started drinking gingerbread lattes. This went great until around the end of February when they stopped selling gingerbread lattes. So, desperate for that sugar and caffeine buzz of which I’d grown accustomed, I tried something called a caramel macchiato.

A caramel macchiato tastes like sugar. And caramel. But mostly sugar.

So, for a time, all was good with the world. It wasn’t long though until I realized that I was paying $4 a cup for these drinks and ingesting goodness knows how many calories. So, I decided that I HAD to learn to drink regular coffee. It was much less expensive and contained far fewer calories. There was only one problem with this plan.

I hated regular coffee.

They say some things are an acquired taste. I’d definitely put coffee in that category.

To make a long story slightly less long, with enough cream, sugar substitutes and patience, I learned to love coffee.

One thing that isn’t an acquired taste is the smell of coffee. Freshly ground, freshly brewed, wonderfully aromatic coffee. It’s the best. They should make a cologne of it. Or maybe spray it inside new cars. I’m guessing they’ve already thought to make a candle that smells like coffee.

There’s a quote that says:

Coffee Smells Like Freshly Ground Heaven

I really think that’s true. Even non-coffee drinkers agree that coffee smells good.

Recently, I had a friend ask what I thought about crowns in Heaven. She’d been in a Bible study where they were discussing the topic. The Bible speaks, on several occasions, of storing up crowns in Heaven. Typically, this is interpreted as a situation where if you live right and do good deeds during your life on Earth, you’ll be rewarded with riches or blessings in heaven. Some people even say this means that certain people have a more favored afterlife than others. In Heaven they’ll have crowns, giant mansions, favored seating at Heavenly restaurants or maybe a super-sweet harp. To me, all of that seems unlikely and actually a bit unlike the teachings of Jesus. However, who knows? As long as there is coffee in Heaven, I’ll be fine.

The truth is, I think coffee and God are really quite alike.

God is often described as the essence of love. But love isn’t easily defined is it? Try it. You’ll either wind up describing warm, fuzzy emotional feelings or you’ll describe actions that take place as a result of love. Perhaps the only way to see God is through the prism of His creation. Perhaps the only way to fully relate to and interact with God is in the very act of love itself.

God is meant to be experienced, and shared.

In a cup alone on a counter, not being consumed, coffee becomes cold, stale and frankly, quite gross. However, sitting on the front porch on a cool autumn morning sharing a cup of coffee with someone you love….that is sacred event. Or in a coffee shop, reading a good book, surrounded by people of all walks of life…that becomes an encounter with the divine.

Coffee is meant to be experienced and shared.

So, may we slow down and relax this week. As we savor that morning cup of coffee, taking the time to appreciate the aroma and taste the richness of its flavor, may we see that God is there, all around us, interacting with His creation. And much like a good cup of coffee, may we recognize that God is meant to be experienced and shared with someone we love.

2 comments

  1. John Clark - August 15, 2013 10:48 pm

    Cool! I’m gonna share this with my whole community of God loving, coffee loving folks. Thanks.

    Reply
    • marcher - August 16, 2013 4:32 am

      Thanks John! Its really awesome to hear that you enjoyed it! I’m still new to this whole blog thing. Sometimes I feel I nail it. Other times, not so much. It’s great to get positive feedback!

      Reply

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