There is nothing I like better than a delicious chocolate dessert paired with a good cappuccino. Clearly I have always loved chocolate, but I don't think I could even fully appreciate it before I started to like coffee! The bitter coffee taste is so complimentary to the sweet chocolate, and vice versa. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! The other day, when partaking in the aforementioned duo, I mentioned to my husband, "Wasn't God good to give us the coffee and chocolate beans? And have them work together to be so heavenly on our tongue?" OK, I don't think I said it quite that nicely, probably because I was too busy chowing down! But he got the point.
That got me thinking about our sense of taste and what a gift it is from God. Food certainly didn't need to taste good to give us sustenance. There didn't need to be hundreds, perhaps thousands, of different flavors for us to enjoy. And on top of that, He made it so we can appreciate different combinations of those flavors, like my chocolate and coffee!
And it doesn't end there: Every time I look at my daughter's face when she's fallen asleep in my arms, every time I see the trees swaying lightly against the blue sky, every time I hear the rain falling outside or a beautiful piece of music that gives me goosebumps, every time my husband holds me in his arms, every time I smell a pine tree and think of Christmas, these moments are gifts from God. Our senses could have simply been given to be purely utilitarian. But instead, God chose to give us countless ways to make them come alive!
In no way is this an original concept, but I'm not sure you can truly grasp what I'm saying until you've had a moment where you realize what you are experiencing is one of God's gifts to you in this life. And my moment recently was simply sipping a cappuccino and tasting some sweet chocolate.