From one coffee lover (addict) to another:
Coffee is a ubiquitous analogy. During college, several
assignments required that I choose some sort of object as a symbol of what I’d
learned. Hated these types of assignments, but each time, coffee was my go-to, and the resulting analogies turned out
to be surprisingly fitting. So now I turn to it again, but on a broader scale:
coffee as an analogy for life.
Life is like a cup of coffee…
1.
It’s an
acquired taste. Now hold up. Life is an acquired taste? What’s that
supposed to mean? Well, think about it. When you first started drinking coffee,
it wasn’t actually the coffee flavor you loved, but all the sugar, chocolate,
and other candy bar flavors that it included. Now think back to childhood. The
experiences you initially appreciated when young were those that were easy and
fun. Sweet. Anything involving pain, delayed gratification, or hard work, you
disliked – it seemed dark and bitter. Black coffee.
However, as you continued drinking the
sugary-sweet “coffees,” you slowly began to enjoy the rich, bitter aftertaste
of the coffee itself. You started adding
less caramel. Less whip. So it is in life with hard work and difficult
experiences. Though you don’t often appreciate them at the time, you look back
and realize how they’ve shaped your life and character; you see they’ve been
for your good all along, and you enjoy that delicious bitter aftertaste. It’s
the paradox, the juxtaposition, of those two things—“bitter” and
“delicious”—that makes the analogy so fitting.
Thus, the love of all of life (not just the sweet parts) is an acquired taste – one
acquired through gratitude and trust, and one we’ll continue acquiring in
increasing measure until we reach eternity and perfectly see the perfect
goodness of every bitter brew.
2.
The best
things come through pressure and heat. Similar to number one. But think
about it. To brew that perfect cup of coffee, the grounds undergo scalding
water. In the case of the espresso for specialty drinks, the grounds are first
compressed and then scalding water is forcibly shot through them. The result?
Deliciousness in a cup. Isn’t that true of life, as well? No pain, no gain.
3.
Varieties
are endless. Choose a regular cup o’ joe, the half-caf no-whip skinny soy
almond vanilla latte on ice, or one of a million other varieties for every mood
and every weather. The decision is overwhelming. The variety of life situations
and decisions you’ll encounter is also endless and will feel overwhelming. But
as you start to make many decisions that significantly impact your future, keep
this in mind. God cares more about WHO you ARE, than WHAT you DO. Not that he
doesn’t have a plan for your life. Not that he’s not guiding you. But if you
look at the Bible, God dropping signs out of the sky, whispering voices,
moistening fleeces, etc to show people what specifically to do with their lives
was the exception, not the norm. We don’t find commandments about what job we
should take or who we should marry. But we are repeatedly commanded to pursue
holiness. So let this be the basis for your decision-making. Will it further His
kingdom? Will it sanctify me? And then…go for it! Will you feel nervous? Yes!
Big decisions are unsettling. But as long as you are pursuing holiness and His
kingdom, whatever decision you make will be good.
(On a side note, you could also apply these
endless varieties to people – so many different kinds of people you will meet –
some fruity, some nutty, some bitter, some sweet, some perky…choose carefully
which one you’ll be, ha!)
4.
Better
when savored slowly! Sure, you can gulp down that cold press with white
chocolate in a few sips. But really, it’s so much better to let it trickle over
your tongue and reach those back corners of your mouth, fully activating all
taste buds. Apply to life. It’s so, so easy to not live in the present – to
always be thinking of (and wishing for) the past or imagining the future –
wishing for the end of the work day, wishing for the end of the school year, wishing
for…whatever. But the only thing we truly ever have is the present, and it’s
better to savor it. How? I think the key, again, is gratitude. Active
gratitude. There’re so many cheesy but true quotes I could insert here. “The
journey is the destination.” “Don’t count the days, make the days count!”
“Present moment living is at the heart of joyful living, because… tomorrow is
just another present moment when it arrives.” Yet another lesson we’ll be
learning our whole lives.
So there you have it. Life wisdom through the lens of
coffee. Told you it could be used as an
analogy for everything.
With Love & Caffeine,
*Initially, this was written to my little brother, Christopher. He graduated from high school last June, and as I wanted to write something meaningful, I chose the subject to be something we both heartily enjoy - coffee. I stumbled across it again tonight, and since my life's been particularly caffeinated of late, decided to share this slightly modified version.