Sooooooo I had a revelation that coconuts can represent Christ, what our relationship with Him can look like, and what He does in our lives. Hear me out.
When we think of paradise, we think of sippin on tropical fruits such as coconuts and pineapples in a luscious location. Here in Cambodia, I’ve eaten coconut in its various forms (oil, milk, water, meat, etc) and to be quite honest, I actually hated the taste and texture of it before the trip haha. Something fascinated me, though, through beginning to like coconut.
Different parts of the coconut represent the different layers we hold up, etc, gets harder to get to, but once you do, you find the pure and organic water that would represent His love and grace and mercy and His Spirit that is INSIDE of us. The outer appearance may seem “dirty” and “ugly,” but the inner parts are what’s beautiful and clean, like a sweet aroma to God. Our relationship with Him is a process. Cut open and peel back the layers and ask God to pry open your heart.
The water inside replenishes and hydrates the soul, it gives you the drink you so desperately need. The living water of Jesus satisfies us and quenches our earthly thirst for a more heavenly thirst. And boyyyyy does it taste GOOD. His spiritual fruit, which can produce a sense of “cleansing.” Psalms 34:8, “TASTE and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in Him.”
PROCESS OF GETTING WATER OR MILK FROM A COCONUT (and more):
-gets cut, knocked down, or falls to the ground
-cut and peel the husk
-coconut gets shaved from the inside
-cut open the coconut
-goes through a process of producing milk by wringing out the shavings with a wet cloth
-the milk is measured in kilograms
-goes through another process of being “boiled” (the now dried coconut shavings) in hot water to be wrung out again
-repeat wringing out the shavings and measuring it
-mix both together for 15 minutes straight with a fast-paced stir
-goes through a 17 hour process of going in a “sauna” to heat up and separate the milk and oil, etc
-repeat many times every day
Lemme tell ya, the labor we went through to get just a few kilograms of coconut milk physically hurt. My hands felt like I had just gotten rope burn. They became sore very quickly. It was very hot, too, even though there was a fan above us. I was reminded of this verse: Matthew 9:37, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
People may not like coconut, but God created it that way to say something about the significance it can have in our lives. People are gonna like and dislike you, agree and disagree with you. You have a significant meaning in other people’s lives, even if it doesn’t always feel like it. The shell of a coconut is tough, which could parallel to our relationship with God and how it can be hard at times, as well as what’s on the inside of them, which could parallel to opening up and becoming a softer person (and at times, that can come with comfortability). In Matthew 5:11-12, “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are My followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in Heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.” And in Philippians 3:15-16 it says, “let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.”
My curiosity of wondering if anyone else has ever had this thought stirred in my heart so much, so I found this definition from google of what God says about them after these ideas “randomly” popped into my head: “…exemplifies incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Falls from the highest point on the tree, symbolizing Jesus descent from God the Father. Then, the coconut rolls to the lowest point on the ground, representing Christ’s humility, and if left, it will begin the process of dying. A shoot will push through the shell and the husk to form a new coconut tree.”
Isn’t it cool how a freaking coconut can represent our spiritual connection with Jesus? It blew my mind and still does honestly. It’s something I never thought in that way before. And to be around coconuts 24/7 has been a constant reminder of it, too.
Catch me eatin and drinkin coconut when I get back haha!!
