"Bitter Bean"

What does THAT mean?  "Bitter bean" has actually become a term in our house, to refer to a bitter person.  It's origination has roots (shockingly!) in Starbucks vernacular.  Coffee beans are actually found in a berry, that when dried, cleaned, and processed, produces the yummy bean we use as our caffeine fix (aka coffee!).  But, sometimes, a berry will be bad, and the bean will become bitter, producing a not-so-great tasting coffee bean, yielding a bad (bitter) cup of coffee.  You know what is "funny" about that?  It does not take a lot of "bitter beans" to make a very good cup of coffee taste terrible. 

I think God really knew about this phenomenon.  "A little leaven leavens the whole lump..."  (I Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9).  Have you ever been around a group of people, and there is a "Grumpy" in the crowd?  It doesn't take much "grump" to make the whole group go from laughing and having a great time, to well, crabbiness.  OR, (and probably more often so, unfortunately), you don't have a problem with something/someone, but the person you are talking to DOES.  In just a few minutes, you go from not caring in the least, to being ready to storm down the walls of whatever you are now ready to blast!  Why?  How come we let the bitter beans win?  I guess God also knew about this problem when He told us in Proverbs (more than once!) that bad company corrupts good character. 

My Pastor even preached about this this past Sunday.  When we are running our Christian race-the marathon that doesn't end until our last day on earth, there were three persons to be wary of-only THREE.  And you know what one of them was?!?  Yep.  BITTER people.  I probably cannot count on one hand the amount of times in just the past few months that I have heard sermons or random comments on the absolute catastrophic effects of bitterness.  You know what a bitter bean looks like?  U-G-L-Y.  You know what a bitter person looks like?  I'm sorry to sound rude, but it is the same exact word.  Just like a happy person, bitterness swallows beauty whole, and leaves a wrinkled, sour, unhappy bean in it's wake.  Bitter beans do not care how many cups of coffee they infect.  Their job is to be bitter, and THAT is exactly what they will do. 

The next time you drink your cup of coffee, maybe you will have the after-effects of a bitter bean.  (Maybe the person who brewed it just brewed it wrong, too!)  Or, maybe you will have a sweet, aromatic cup that refreshes you, energizes you, and helps you face whatever is left of your day.  Make the choice to NOT be a bitter bean.  Their legacy is short-lived, their fame is not friendly, and they lack the beauty that is awaiting those who make the CHOICE to, "Let go and let God."  Do you have reasons to be bitter?  Sure!  I did, and it ate, and ate, and ate at me.  It was relentless.  And then, I decided to let it go.  I didn't want to-bitterness has a way of making you think you have to have it, that life won't be fair if you aren't holding on to it. 

Let me tell you, life on the other side tastes a whole lot sweeter.