Heat

I have successfully emptied our refrigerator of all fishes and prawns as well as vegetables - and so tonight, my hubby and I are going out for dinner.

A simple telephone conversation with a friend this morning brought me a simple lesson about the humble coffee-beans, which led me to reflect upon my own life. The coffee-beans roasting process is integral to any aromatic cup of coffee that coffee-lovers like me can potentially enjoy. When roasted, an originally green coffee bean not only alters in its physical properties (doubles in size, changes density) and color (green --> yellow --> light cinnamon brown --> darker brown --> nearly black) - but also its chemical properties. Chemical reactions turn the carbs and fats in the bean into aromatic oils; moisture and carbon dioxide are burnt off; acids are alternately broken up and built up; sugars are caramelized. Of course, depending on the coffee flavor you want - light-bodied, full-bodied, sweet, spicy or smokey - you can remove the coffee beans from the heat at different stages to be cooled, de-stoned, ground if needed and packaged. But like I said, whatever the flavor required, all coffee-beans share one thing in common - they have to be roasted. At a high heat of between 460F to 560F too! During the roasting process, all beans have to be moved around by air, stirring or tumbling to prevent them from uneven roasting or being burnt.

Don't you think it's such an amazing story of the coffee we enjoy every day? My dear friend shared of how she felt like a tiny coffee bean going through a roasting process. The "heat" is fierce, sometimes she is tempted to leap out of the roasting oven herself, and if she wasn't being "moved around" so much, she would burn. In fact, the "moving around" helps time to pass and makes her experience more bearable. However, we both know that the heat would be necessary for her to transform into God's vessel for the most incredible things He would accomplish in the world. It is funny that she should share this with me this morning - because just yesterday evening, a short section of a Korean drama I was watching (꽃보다 남자) featured a kiln baking clay. In that scene, the girl mused regarding the clay, "They look happy, those plates inside. For some reason, rather than thinking that they are hurting in the heat, they look like they are happy. They must be full of hope knowing that if they endure the heat now, they can come out and receive love."

I don't think I am going through as difficult a time as my friend is going through - but reflecting on the meaning of "heat" brought me to view my difficulties, season's dilemmas and life-struggles in a different light. And I thank God... that in those times during which I felt the most miserable His grace has been always sufficient. That there has been joy in spite of tears. Beauty in spite of pain.