Tasting the Notes of Grace

Learning to notice and describe the ways God has carried us

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I’m sitting in my hotel room, quietly enjoying a complimentary Nespresso coffee. It’s a tiny Kazaar pod with “spicy and woody notes”—or at least that’s what the description says.

A quick Google search describes it as “an exceptionally intense, dark-roasted espresso with a thick, syrupy crema,” featuring “prominent woody, spicy, and peppery notes.”

Unlike my friend Andy Falleur, whose posts carry you to the various coffee shops he visits, I’ve never quite figured out how to distinguish the subtleties in coffee. I would love to take a sip and describe the flavour notes and aromas. I’m not there yet, and whenever I drink coffee, I feel like I’m missing out.

This morning, I woke up with a runny and partially stuffy nose. After a few sips of coffee, I blew my nose—and something happened.

As I did, I suddenly tasted, or smelled, the subtle notes. I was surprised and impressed. I described them as fruity and woody. I couldn’t break them down any further.

It turns out the woody part was correct, although I couldn’t explain why I described it that way. What I called fruity, I suppose, was the spicy and peppery notes mentioned above.

As I was discovering my ability to taste coffee while blowing my nose, I was also reading Exodus 15.

What stood out to me, as the Israelites celebrated God’s deliverance, was the detail with which they described what had happened.

They didn’t settle for a generic, “Thank you, God, for delivering us from the Egyptians,” or even a slightly more descriptive, “Thank you for getting us across the Red Sea without getting killed.”

They broke into song.

For most of the chapter, they described God, what he did, how he did it, how it affected them, and what it did to their enemies.

Take a moment to read their song.

Here’s a little bit:

“Your right hand, O Lord,
is glorious in power.
Your right hand, O Lord,
smashes the enemy.
In the greatness of your majesty,
you overthrow those who rise against you.
You unleash your blazing fury;
it consumes them like straw.
At the blast of your breath,
the waters piled up!
The surging waters stood straight like a wall;
in the heart of the sea the deep waters became hard.”
—Exodus 15:6–8

Okay, this is a Popcorn Devotion, and it’s getting a little long. So, what am I getting at?

Simple.

As much as I would like to develop my ability to drink coffee and describe its flavours and aromas in detail, I also want to practise retelling and describing—even with poetic notes—the ways God has delivered me, the ways he leads and directs my steps, and the ways that, every day, even in the small things, he demonstrates his grace and love.