A FUNNELING WE GO

I have a morning ritual when I reach my kitchen.  Each day I prepare for the process of making ice coffee.  I do this because... it is not only cost-effective, but better for you with a reduced 69% acidity, and the flavor is out of this world!  

After the grounds have saturated in water for 48 hours, I take a funnel and place it over an empty mason jar.  Then I place a cone shaped filter in the funnel.  Slowly, I pour the liquid grounds and watch the stream trickle below surface filling the jar with savory coffee.   

In my impatience, I sometimes pour too quickly and it burst the filter, causing the grounds to also fill the jar.   Therefore, causing me to start the whole process over again.

I don't like to repeat steps.  I rather do things right the first time.  As I think of that filter bursting, I reflect on how we sometimes conduct our lives as such.  How many times have you found yourself cramming in change overnight?  

You vow that you’re going to do things differently.  "This time is going to be different".  Then the bubble is burst with frustration, and anticipation of the Almighty ready to lower the boom on your bummed efforts.  Did you catch that?  YOUR EFFORTS! 

When did we ever start to believe that we were so self-sufficient we could handle everything?  Some believe they could conquer the world in one word, while changing the very core of themselves for the good of all mankind.  

Often believers become discouraged when failure seems to frantically funnel into the purifying places of their souls.  The process of purifying is going to take more than 48 hours.  It’s a lifetime event.  Change isn't something that happens overnight.  

Failure will be met with every about-face, unless we are being purified through the funneling of the Holy Spirit, God's word, and willingness to listen and learn of Christ's ways.  It is a necessary process.  Much like the coffee grounds that enter through the burst filter, ruining the savor of this black gold.  

If we try to filter out the impurities within ourselves too fast, and on our own, we will end up with grounds of disappointment, discouragement, and more delays, and having to start the process all over.

In this life, we will have delays!  There is no getting around it.

Yet, focus on the process, not the delay.  Who wants a cup of bitter tasting coffee?  Or to react bitterly to life? 

Delays are destinations that have been designed to purify the process of faith.  How quickly are you pouring into your funnel?  Is the filter going to hold?  You might need to allow the process to take however long it needs to percolate into the person God is calling you to be.  

Funneling faith is the process of filtering out self reliance, and personal opinions opposed to God's word.  God really knows what He is doing...and desires for us to depend on His design while directing our efforts.  

Numbers 23:19  God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

 The funneling process doesn't have to be a frustrating one.  If you focus on the journey more then the delay, you will find  your faith funneled with fervency.

Change will come before you know it...as metamorphoses evolves you into reflecting Him (Jesus Christ)...you will leave imprints on the world around you which will domino a chain reaction for a Christ centered change.

"You change your life by changing your heart." -Max Lucado

Brenda A. Graff / Founder
FOOD FOR SOUL MAGAZINE

“Often times God demonstrates His faithfulness in adversity by providing for us what we need to survive. He does not change our painful circumstances. He sustains us through them.”  ~ Charles Stanley