I am certain that everyone has a daily ritual, a pattern of how they do things.
For me, it is coffee and Jesus first thing in the morning. My time in the Word with a notepad and cup of coffee is something that enriches every day. The thought of getting into prayer, the Word…and coffee are what gets me out of bed. Only this morning did I start to think about the path to making that rich, robust, and comforting cup of coffee; the coffee I have with Jesus.
Today I learned that coffee beans are not beans at all, but cherries that are harvested once a year. How they are harvested is by one of two methods. One method is called strip harvesting, where every cherry whether ripe or not is stripped from the plant. But for the BEST coffees, there is another way. Selectively picked.
Here only the ripe, red cherries are harvested; picked individually by hand. This method is used primarily to harvest the finer Arabica beans.
It is not easy labor. Every worker’s haul is weighed, and the picker is then paid on the merit of his or her work.
The cherries are laid out to dry or processed through a different method to preserve them. If they are not preserved properly they will rot. Eventually the outer parchment or hull is removed, and the beans are sorted – ensuring that only the finest quality beans remain. The coffee beans are still green as they head to roasting, and once roasted they are sampled for tasting. The ‘cupper’ analyzes every batch of beans to determine their characteristics and flaws, and for creating the proper roast. From this point the coffee beans are distributed for consumption for throughout the world.
It was not lost on me just how well this coincides with the way God selects and picks us; then asks us to do a good work. He pays us with LIFE in abundance.
What happens to the coffee berries after they are harvested is also very much like what we go through.
When we first give our lives to Christ we are just as green and covered with a hull that must be removed. It is our sin, brokenness, and ego that require processing to extract. God brings us through trials and times of deep, soul questioning. He chastens us to assure our path is kept right and to make us pure. His desire is to restore the true heart within. When the hull is gone, we are then roasted and ‘tasted‘ to reveal the areas that still need work.
The joy of having been ‘roasted’ by God is to have been made flavorful to those we reflect His glory upon. We then become planters of seed for the next crop of premium berries for God the Father to pick.
I will never think about Jesus and coffee the same way again. AMEN!
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ….”
John 15:1-11
