Taste and See that the Lord is Good Psalm 32:8

For me, this verse brings up visions of flourless chocolate cake, a crisp juicy apple, yummy cold ice cream and other delicacies.  I smile and get a warm gooey feeling in my tummy.

BUT what happens when your taste buds stop working?  What if you can no longer taste sweet things? 

This is my current experience.  Last Monday I developed a strong metallic, salty taste in my mouth and things weren't tasting right.  As the days have gone by I have realized that I can still taste bitter things, spicy things, sour things and umami BUT I can not taste anything sweet.  In fact when I do continue to eat something sweet I get an increasingly salty taste in my mouth.  It has been quite the experience and has my mind spinning.

Of course my primary thoughts have been "what caused it and how can I fix it".  I have googled, and there are a variety of possibilities of which hormones and sinus problems/allergies are likely.  There are also diseases but choosing not to explore those yet.  Along with the lack of a sweet taste I do have a very dry mouth.  Based on the products at the pharmacy in the mouth wash aisle, evidently this is not that uncommon. And no I haven't found one that works that well.  Chewing gum does help some.

At this point you may have several thoughts or questions. Let me see if I can address them.

• No, I have not seen a doctor.  I was giving it some time. Since it has been a week and is very distracting (the constant salty dry taste) my plan is to reach out to a doctor today.
• NO, it is not an active case of Covid.  I am not sick and the home Covid test was negative.  I had Covid 2 months ago and could it be linked? Of course there is that possibility.
• Yes I can still smell with what seems like normalcy.
• Yes I am taking Flonase for allergies.  Actually started after I lost me sweet taste,
• Yes I am drinking a good bit of water.
• It is not just a loss of the ability to taste sweet that is the problem, it is the constant salty sometimes metallic taste in my mouth.

So here are thoughts that I have had.

• I didn't realize how dependent I was on food, especially things that taste sweet for pleasure. I truly had been eating for fun and enjoyment and now am eat for sustainment .
• I keep thinking about how this is kind of like grief.  I have experience grief but not ones that I would consider profound grief.  Perhaps the one I consider the most difficult was my loss of security when I moved to Uganda.  Every sense of security, identity, expectation and comfort seemed to be removed from me and I was grieving.  In that grief it was very hard to find pleasure in even things that were intentionally sweet.  I could engage in it but could not taste it.  Even some of those sweet experiences left a bitter taste because of my "losses."  I think of this in particular for friends who have experienced profound losses through divorce, death of spouse or child, as well as betrayal or other major life transition.  As you grieve, sometimes it is really hard to find pleasure in things that are meant to be pleasurable.  And often others don't understand.  I can explain this experience of not being able to enjoy even an apple for its sweetness to you but until you have experienced it, it is hard to know what that it is really like.  
• Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Honest it is challenging when everything tasted overly salty and at times bitter. But the truth is that he is Good.  In this experience I can see how God is talking to me about my dependence on pleasure, giving me empathy for the grieving and others with chronic ailments as well and helping me to get off of sugar as I have been trying to do.  The Lord's goodness doesn't always taste like sugar.  His goodness is there even in the salty, sour and bitter.  Psalm 34 starts off with "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth." Whatever life taste like, I can choose to praise his name and trust in his goodness."