Taste and See...

In Psalm 34, we see that the writer takes two of our physical senses and applies them to our experience of God's presence:
8Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!9Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.

So, how do we "taste and see?"  I think the implication here is that we are called into an experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit that is unique and fulfilling.  He wants us to explore a deep walk with Him, so that His desires are our own and that we long to be with Him, to know more of and about Him, to gain a sense of truly walking with Him.  We can display His character, and we can identify ways in which we see Him work in, through, and around our lives.  In our hunger and thirst for God, we can look for Him and find Him - in so doing, we have cause for rejoicing!

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God has placed His Spirit in our hearts, and His desire is that we allow His nature to be displayed through our lives.  In 2nd Corinthians 2, Paul uses the analogy of our spreading the fragrance of God's goodness:
14Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.15For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.16To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life...

We are still a few days out from Thanksgiving, but already sights are set on the Christmas season. And, even though Brandon Heath, a guest on today's Meeting House program, decries the early celebration of the Christmas season - for good reason - we still are building anticipation of this special time of the year.

So, fall isn't exactly in the rear-view mirror, but soon, the red cups at the neighborhood store marked by the "lady in green," as Steven Curtis Chapman puts it, will have completely overtaken the residual presence of what has become a marketing phenomenon - the pumpkin spice latte, or PSL for short, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.

As of last year, according to Forbes, Starbucks had sold more than 200 million units of the drink. Writer Michelle Maynard writes that the sauce consists of pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, vanilla and the spices: cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and cloves.

Of course, there are all sorts of pumpkin-inspired items that have been available this time of year. Acording to Maynard, pumpkin is featured in at least five different variations at Dunkin Donuts, including new pumpkin flavored coffee K-packs. There are pumpkin M&M's, as well as pumpkin spice lotion, shampoo and candles.   I even came across a trail mix that has pumpkin and sunflower seeds nestled in its components.

She says it's the perfect cross-cultural flavor.  She writes:

I come from New England roots, and grew up thinking it was just fine to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast. You’ll find cinnamon used in a wide variety of cuisines, ginger in Asian food, nutmeg in Middle Eastern dishes, and cloves in a variety of Mediterranean and African foods.

We might not all pick up the idea of fall from pumpkin spice, but we might find something from our own background when we taste it.

CNBC.com reports that restaurants' pumpkin-inspired limited-time offers were up 234 percent from 2008 to 2012, while overall limited-time menu offers have grown 143 percent over the same period, according to Datassential Menu Trends.   

So, it seems to me that marketers have caused us to cultivate a taste for something on a seasonal basis that we don't ordinarily consume throughout the rest of the year.   It's trendy and it helps us to identify with a particular season and an experience.

What can fascination with the pumpkin teach us about our own spiritual life?   Well, my first thought is of a word of caution.  As humans, we can become rather experiential, but in our Christian walk, we have to be careful that we are not seeking the experience rather than the One who wants to draw us in to experience Him on a consistent basis.

The pumpkin craze connects with people on several sensory levels, including the taste and the smell. And, if you're like me, someone who enjoys fall colors, especially orange, there could be a sight component, as well.  God has created our physical senses to enjoy the world that He has created for us and in which He has placed us.   And, He has given us the capacity to develop our spiritual senses to detect and experience His presence.   

But, remember: it's best not to come before the Lord sporadically or seasonally - He wants us to abide in Him and not just enter into worship on special occasions.

He also wants us to show others the expression of His presence.  The Bible speaks of our being the "fragrance" of Christ.  So, we can even look at our lives and determine whether or not we would pass the "smell" test regarding how well we are radiating His presence and causing others to desire the irresistible flavor of the God's Spirit.