The Bean Forever Remembers

Just this last week, my husband was in Starbucks and picked up a clearance mug. The mug is black and says "Starbucks" and we really don't need another one. The mug is not what caught my attention, though. It was the box. It is a simple brown cardboard made from recycled material. There are green letters on it that say:

"The bean forever remembers its birthplace: the terraced hillsides, the equatorial rains, the lilac-blue shade of the jacaranda. The bean eternally harbors the nurturing touch of the farmer deep within. The bean gives back blessing each warm cup with the mysteriously inviting flavor of its coffee-land origin."

I love coffee and I enjoy trying new roasts and blends from distant lands. If you are really careful about how you drink it you can actually taste the differences in the different coffees. Coffee beans grown in Kenya have a bright, almost fruity flavor. Coffee connoisseurs will tell you to drink it with fruity desserts or fresh berries. I thoroughly enjoyed the bag of beans we received from Hannah.
The rare Kona coffee grown on the Big Island in Hawaii is a highly prized bean with a light body and a sweet caramelly aroma to it. Again, this was an amazing cup of coffee. It is very expensive and rarely can you find 100% Kona. It is usually blended with Latin American beans of Asian beans to balance it out. We did have some on our trip to Hawaii and brought some home with us. MMMMM it was so good. I had a hard time using the last of those precious beans.
But, it wasn't so much the statement about the bean that grabbed me but the truth that can be found within it.
I have been meditating on John 15:1-17 lately and I immediately thought of these verses when I saw this little box. The coffee bean is sometimes referred to as the "fruit" of the coffee plant (it's actually the seed). The fruit of the coffee remembers where it has been rooted. These verses talk about how to bear good fruit we must remain in, or be rooted in, Christ and His words.
I loved this phrase; "The bean eternally harbors the nurturing touch of the farmer deep within." Do I harbor the nurturing touch of my gardener? (Jn 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener). Or, do I cringe and push away His pruning in my life? (Jn 15:2...every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.) I am trying to embrace His pruning in my life right now, knowing that it will produce good fruit. (Jn 15:5...If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.) I hope that my fruit gives back a blessing to those around me and to the Father. And, that it is with a mysterious inviting flavor of the land I am rooted in.