Lent Day 21 - Tasteless

I’m a coffee guy. I was converted to my drink of choice in my mid-20’s while attending grad school and surviving the frigid New England winters. Also, I couldn’t face myself or my classmates if I ever admitted I wasn’t a coffee guy. Anyhow, like millions of other people, I quickly found myself constantly pulled into the gravitational pull of every passing Starbucks. I fell in love with Starbucks and have been faithful to Starbucks for many years. It will always hold a special place in my heart. However, I’ve found a new love. A Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf opened up near my office and I started venturing out and drinking their coffee. I found their coffee much better, at least for me. I know that people get passionately defensive about their coffee. So, I’m not here to be “down on” Starbucks. It’s not personal, I have just found that I REALLY like Coffee Bean. I had to let Starbucks know, “it’s not you, it's me.” Simply, I have lost my taste for Starbucks. I thought it could never happen, but it has.

A person I’ve been working with has struggled, like many, with painful and tragic childhood experiences. Her pain has created an angry and mean reaction to other’s perceived slights and judgments. She admits that she can be highly reactive and cruel when she feels mistreated by others. The world is scary and tough and she has matched it with her own form of scary and tough. I would not want to cross her or be on her bad side. Yet, she has courageously moved into seeing her story with painful clarity. She has seen how she's been hurt by her experiences and how she has participated in the hurting others. She has moved away from the hurt and into a world of greater compassion, empathy and love. She has been more patient with herself and others and she is discovering more creativity and life. She has fought to embrace more grace in her life. This has been a slow progressive journey for her. In our time together she uttered an absolutely brilliant line, “I’m beginning to lose my taste for meanness.” It was a line that landed with tremendous force.

Starbucks was a daily part of my routine. I really didn’t have to think about it. It became automatic. Meanness was a daily part of her routine. It was a way she got along in the world. It became automatic for her. She didn’t have to think about it. There wasn’t another way, there wasn’t a better option. I discovered a better coffee. This woman discovered a better way of living.

This begs the question for me today, what do I need to lose my taste for? Can I exchange the taste of man’s approval for the taste of God’s complete acceptance? Can I exchange the taste of the greed of more for the taste of gratitude? Can I exchange the taste of fantasy for the taste of unconditional love? Can I exchange the taste of control for the taste of trust?

After 40 days of hunger the Enemy of People visits Jesus and lets him know that Jesus can turn stones into bread and feed himself. Jesus responds, “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Luke 4:4). He know the sweet goodness of tasting the fulfillment of the Father. Today, I will seek, as Psalm 34:8 reminds me, to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” Today, I will focus on losing the taste for the things that war against my soul and develop a taste for the things that bring me life.