The Smell of Coffee

I'm sure you know this, but coffee smells better than it tastes. OK, calm down, I'm still an advocate of drinking the stuff. However, there is no doubt that a huge part of the enjoyment of the bean beverage is the aroma. Walking past a coffee house and smelling the freshly ground blend presents a promise of enjoyment that the liquid barely, and often doesn't, deliver on.

However, I am rarely resentful when I taste a disappointing cup of coffee. I understand that I was already consuming the enjoyment while percolating in the scent-drenched coffee shop as I waited for my order.

I have come to understand that much of the joy of life is found in the anticipation of things. Does Christmas day really live up to the giddy thrill that the sentiments of the Christmas season cultivates in our soul as we count down the advent calender? Does driving a brand new car fully fulfill the enticing, anxious excitement of exploring the endless possibilities while searching the local auto mile for your next mechanical alter-ego?

The intangibly evident smell of coffee is a metaphor for finding the true quality of the good life. Tangible materials leave a void in the human heart. The intangible raises us into a tension of expectation and anticipation that could be called hope and faith.....and it keeps us wanting to stay alive.

I have often wondered why God takes so long to answer prayers.

When we pray and believe, we are exercising faith. The bible says faith pleases God (Heb. 11:6), and that it is required for us to live by faith (Hab. 2:4), as opposed to having short occasional bursts of faith. When God answers our prayers, we take delivery of our answer and the dimension of faith ceases. That's why God waits until the last moment to answer, because it extends the exercise of our faith, in which He finds so much delight, to the maximum.

Like coffee, the anticipation of things longed for is almost sweeter than the realisation.