Why the coffee bean?

Why a coffee bean?


I once heard a story:
A person put an egg, a carrot, and ground up coffee bean - each in a pot of water.  The water boiled.  The egg turned hard; the carrot got soft; but the coffee grounds, did something neither of the other did. It changed the water around it!

The world, like the water, heats up- it boils at times - testing and trying who we are.

I've been like the egg- hardened by the boil of life.  In an effort to protect my heart I've put up walls.  Unfortunately, those walls, left to hardened by anger or pain, ended up more like a prison, than protection. Like the egg I've let the trials of life boil my heart hard- and in the end, I'd changed- but the world is no better, for it.

Others become soft and broken by the world, like the carrot.  Bending and become pliable to the point of falling apart. We are spent and feel like mush.  The carrot reminds me of brokenness.  I've been there too. It was a place I needed to be after a hardened heart.  But it, too, was not ultimately what  I want to be.

I want to be is like the coffee bean. In the midst of the world and it's ups and downs (the boil of life), the coffee beans change the water! After spending time with the coffee bean, the water looks different, it tastes different, it wakes the world up!  In reality it's not sweet, but reflects the depth and flavor of the boil and the ground roasted bean.

But I've noticed a bit about the bean; however. It is only useful after being roasting and ground.  A fresh coffee bean (rather white/greenish!) is of no use in my coffee!  That roasting and grinding reminds me of James 1:2-4

" Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Perhaps our trials could be likened to the roasting and grinding of the bean.  It is carefully overseen by One who loves the bean.  Roasting and grinding only to the point so the best flavor will infuse with the water  around it! That's God, using the roasting and grinding trials of our lives to bring out the stedfastness & flavor in us.

p.s  I have been asked about creamer.. because I must admit, I love a healthy dose in my coffee.

           What is it????  
                      God's grace- the creamer that sweetens life in the grind!
                                     It's His abundant love and compassion poured into my life.