But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8
I have never spent a great deal of time dissecting the nutritional information of the drinks and food at Starbucks. But I do know this: over the last two years, nearly every day, I have relentlessly found my “nutrition” at Starbucks.
It’s not the daily infusion of caffeine that I have found to be my nutrition, but the placing of my heart, mind, and soul in direct contact with the Living Word. The Bible and Truth itself, Jesus.
I don’t over dramatize my language when I say my caffeine time each morning has been life giving. It has been life sustaining in the same likeness as nutrition itself. Sound theatrical? No! I’ve lived this out loud in a raw gut-wrenching way.
You see, there have been mornings that I have gotten out of bed solely motivated by going to Starbucks. I always look forward to that first sip of my iced vanilla latte, but even more desperately, I have thirsted for Truth to cause Living Water to infuse me with renewed hope.
The above Jeremiah passage references a tree sending out its roots by the stream, so that when the heat comes, its leaves stay green. Trees wither and die without the nutrients they draw from water. I wither, waste, and grow despairingly hopeless without the perspective of Hope itself, given to us in the Person of Jesus.
I have left my house staggering to the car with the heaviness of darkness, grief, and a wounding of the heart that words are incapable of describing, my thoughts often rendering me to complete hopelessness. I now give that feeling the word despair.
Somehow, while sipping my coffee but choosing to trust Jesus by digesting Truth, my entire being absorbs the nutrients to keep going.
I find hope at Starbucks.
Sometimes it’s just enough to make it until that next nutritional supplement when I place my whole being before the Living Word once again. It’s a supernatural mystery. When I place this staggeringly despairing heart and mind before the Word, I’m transformed. My husband can testify to this: on too many occasions, he witnesses his barely functioning wife leave the house hopeless and return with new hope. Sometimes an extravagant increase in hope. Sometimes just enough.
What exactly happens at Starbucks? It’s my daily exchange of despair for hope as I allow the Word of God to transform me. His Word is indeed alive and active (Hebrews 4:12). Hallelujah and Amen!