Of Sandwiches and Coffee

Merienda has its highlights; aside from sipping a cup of coffee, munching on a sandwich with mayo in-between had a tangy feel in it.

Pickle relish made the spread sourer that it has been and quite thought-provoking as it is, what came out of my mind was the adjective, tangy.

Tangy [\ˈtaŋ-ē\] is defined as having a taste characteristic of that produced by acids. This prickly feel inside my mouth made the bland taste of bread more interesting as well as an aftertaste after I munched pre-digested pieces of the food and gulped coffee afterwards.

Coffee is usually served by me, to me with quite a spoonful[s] of cream and some sugar. Most of the time, I can’t stand the bitter aftertaste. Inasmuch as I dislike black coffee variants. I’d prefer the sweet drink and get me hyped for a prolonged period of time.

Coffee and sandwiches – now that’s a likeness.

Quite a contrast I should say.

If spoken words are like flavours of foods that we eat, then most of the time we would have to choose what the appetite of our thoughts would ingest. If we speak in term with relationships, most of the time we would exchange spoken words of sweetness and of neutrality – however we choose to speak them. This would be a pretty easy correlation (e.g. spicy as to harsh words, bitter to…well, bitter and tangy? We’ll get there in a moment) and as a take home assignment from me: write down the flavours you know and how we draw a parallel with what we say.

Coffee beans are not the only stuff that you’ll taste bitterly. In the same effect, bitterness lies within our midst and we choose more often to swallow them like a cup or two on a busy afternoon. A grudge taken by your co-worker because you spoke out of turn, a child ingests bitter lies and grows up with him, or me harvesting small amounts of bitter beans till it fills my cup of hate. I could site more examples yet the borderline point is we have the capacity to swallow more bitterness than we could ever ingest. Just like coffee, the aftertaste is too strong as to forget the flavours that went before it.

“See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” Hebrews 12:15 (NIV)

I know what you’re thinking, “If that is so. Then I’d rather choose sweet words than bitter ones.” That would be a likely choice. But if we so to choose carefully our words then we would not be openly tempted to flattery, and flattery is a dangerous thing: “Whoever flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his feet.” Proverbs 28:25 (NIV)

Flattery recognizes something that is nice, and in turn uses it to bring on pride. Then when the pride comes, so does the fall. If you flatter someone don’t over do it.*

I had deemed my stomach to be quite acidic, and developed a notion that having an intake of more sour foods would result in a breakdown of my digestive system. I enjoyed quite a lot of sour stuff like cry baby gum balls, yakee, kamias, champoy, vinegar… the list goes on and on.

Sour stuff also has a correlation to speech just like with what I had shared earlier. Conversely, we would connect a sour conversation onto a bitter one. Most of the time, it would fall in how each individual’s manner of reacting. Does he/she have a sour face? (e.g. “Umasim ang mukha”) or a sour disposition? The likelihood of the response would generally result into a bitter angst. However, I can be proven wrong as in any case differs with what I would normally observe. But for me, a bitter conversation is bitter. It is plain rage, grief and angst translated to another person however the level of hurt can be delivered. To me, there may be mild bitterness or strong bitterness, but it’s still bitterness! – I write in the context of hurting as we can tolerate the amount of hurt, if we won’t let go of the hurt then the aftertaste is there until it is so much bitter to devour that we will soon vomit all the rage – and that is not a pretty sight.

Rebuke is somewhat like sour words spoken. I may write that sourness pricks the soul, mild or strong, leave the face somewhat beleaguered then relief comes afterwards. No matter how it pierces the heart, the healing comes with it, if we do so to embrace change. Some sour stuff we know are ancient antiseptics.^ Sour stuff is most of the time in small quantities, as a sauce or sometimes taken in as soup. Vomiting due to ingesting too much sour stuff may cause an acidic stomach so we are told to watch what we eat. As do all foods we consume, too much of them are for the health. Likewise, too much spoken of the same thing hurts more than it can resolve.

“An open rebuke is better than hidden love.” (Proverbs 27:5)

“He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.” Proverbs 28:23 (NIV)

Our response with such conversation matters. Just like how I gulped a piece of sandwich is how we also ingest a rebuke from a fellow believer and savor the change our Maker is longing for us. A rebuke comes in many forms, but truthfully it comes from God. Prov 3:11-12 (NIV) says, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” We are to consume the Word spoken by our Lord, for His joy is our strength and times of refreshing may come.

Merienda indeed has its highlights.

* Source: http://www.theseason.org/proverbs/proverbs29.htm

^ Vinegar as Antiseptic: http://www.discoveriesinmedicine.com/A-An/Antisepsis.html

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