As he drank, little brown drops of coffee clung to his mustache like dew.”
–Charles Portis (True Grit)
Back in the ol’ days that might have happened to me. Back in the days when I used to tromp through the woods, I might have a drop or two of coffee hanging from a hair of my moustache, but most likely not as I don’t like to waste a drop. Once in a while Annie will poke at my moustache saying that I need to wipe it. See, it’s mostly gray, but there is one spot with a little brown left in it.
Speakin’ of coffee, I’ve sure been enjoyin’ the gifts I receive every month. The youngest daughter enrolled me in a coffee club from which I receive a bag of coffee from a different country every month. This here that yur drinkin’ is from Nicaragua. Good stuff. Go ahead yuh can nod yur head. Now, I’m not one of them conissewers…I can’t taste the intricate flavors. I have one that says there is a hint of honey, butter, and yellow raisin. When I taste it, I taste coffee. Guess I wouldn’t make a good taster. All I want for mine is to be black, strong, and preferably smooth–something that makes my innards all comfortable.
So, Pard, taste anythin’? That there Nicaragua coffee is supposed to give yuh a hint of caramel, custard, and banana. What d’ya taste? Can’t taste it ’cause yuh burnt yur tongue? My mercy Pard… Yuh sip it first to check how hot it is. Sometimes Pard yuh just make me shake my head.
I see there’s an uproar as the snowflakes and twinkies might be gettin’ their student loans removed. Listen yuh fools, nothin’s free. Somebody’ll have to pay for yur loan, that money can’t just disappear, but ‘course yuh don’t care as long as yuh get a free ride. One day, I’m givin’ yuh a warnin’ there will be an accountin’.
But I don’t want to spoil the mornin’ talkin’ ’bout the stupidity of dismissin’ debt that is rightly owed. I want to get back to tastin’. A Scripture that has been flittin’ through my noggin’ is that one that tells us to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” I think it is there in Psalm 34. Now, how does one go about tastin’ the Lord? Yuh for sure don’t go up and lick Him. But there are other ways to taste. For example, when there’s bakin’ goin’ on in Annie’s kitchen, yuh can not only smell the aroma, but yuh can’t actually get a taste of that pie or bread or cookies. Why Pard, yuh could taste the coffee this mornin’, it made yuh comfortable. Nah, the Lord don’t taste like banana, or carmel, or custard, but there is a comfort when yur with Him. There is a special flavor about His presence that can for sure be identified–yuh know when He’s present with yuh…yuh can taste Him.
See that verse goes on to tell of His blessin’s. That’s the way we taste the Lord…through His blessin’s. Why Pard yuh know He blessed yuh today ’cause I noticed yur cinch is loose and yuh didn’t fall on yur coconut and split it open. That’s a blessin’, not get it cinched tight and yuh can think of tastin’ the Lord this week.
Vaya con Dios.