Just because

Here you go:

It's Thursday, which means you probably need this. Take some. There's enough for everyone.

Also, you'll notice that is not me in the background of that picture. That is my assistant, er, Horatio. He helps me do important things like craft and disperse the finest gourmet chocolate (obviously); pick and polish apples from the orchard down the hill before baking them into pies; spritz my patio full of orchids with a light mist 12 times a day; scrub my kitchen floor and floor boards with a precision only made possible by a toothbrush; weave my recyclable plastics and cardboards into Anthropologie-inspired curtains; and brush, rub and feed my pet unicorn.

Everyone needs a Horatio.

Okay, now hold the chocolate up to your nose and inhale its dark, rich scent. Is it filling your nose and making your mouth water? Then put that chocolate in your mouth! Close your eyes and chew it slowly. Let it melt.

It's an indescribable experience, isn't it? All that sweet, rich cream; all those endorphins the cacao releases; the way your tongue can simultaneously taste sweet and bitter and feel smooth and crunchy; the smell of the chocolate while you eat it.

Isn't it crazy that our bodies are cursed? Our tongues, noses, fingers, and stomachs have all been affected by the Fall of man; they've been damaged by sin's curse. And the cow that made the cream that went into the chocolate? It's been damaged by sin's curse. And the ground that grew the grass that fed the cow? It's been damaged by sin's curse. And yet, these things open us to so much grace.

Can you imagine what chocolate would have tasted like in the garden of Eden, back when our tongues, the cows, and the ground weren't cursed? Now close your eyes again, and imagine what chocolate will taste like in heaven when we're freed from sin's curse — when our bodies are new and the food we eat hasn't been cultivated on a dying earth.

It's going to be crazy. Off the hook CRAZY.

I like imagining heaven. And I'm thankful for a God who gives a world full of so much varied grace right now. Our tongues don't have to open us to such pleasure, but they do. The cows don't have to make thick cream, but they do. The ground doesn't have to grow cacao beans, but it does. They do and it does because God is good and he likes to give us good things, just because.

I'm thankful for that.

So once you've finished Horatio's chocolate here, go buy yourself a bar of chocolate, just because. And then eat it, just because. And then notice how much grace is packed into the bar of chocolate and your body, just because. Just because God loves us, and he loves giving us good things.

Happy, glorious, chocolate-filled Thursday!

-Sarah



© by scj