Another Cup of Tea

Greetings Dear Reader,

What seems like a lifetime ago, when I was first in college; I had a friend from the United Kingdom who lived on the same dormitory floor as me.  Even then I would occasionally grab a tea bag in the cafeteria and make a cup of tea with my breakfast.  On a particular fall morning I sat down with my eggs and sausage in front of the windows that overlooked the ocean.  I was studiously dipping my tea bag into the almost boiling water when my friend joined me.

The displeasure from the morning greeting signaled that something was more important to my friend than greeting me.  Immediately I learned the cause of the irritation from my friend; “American tea bags are an abomination.  In them one finds nothing but dust and fragments.”

Since this was our first time sharing breakfast when I was choosing to have tea instead of coffee my friend had not witnessed my teabag dunking ritual.  I was a bit taken aback by the response, and then my friend explained.  “It takes time and real leaves to make a proper cup of tea.  What you have there is the leavings I find in the bottom of my tea tin.  Wait here a moment.”

My friend practically ran toward the exit and returned shortly with a tin, a tea pot, and a small strainer.  Leaves were measured out into the teapot which was already filled with steaming water.  The lid was placed on the pot and I was told to wait.  I was most of the way through my breakfast when my friend poured the rich amber tea from the pot into my empty cup.

I sipped the best cup of tea I had ever enjoyed.  My friend spent the rest of the semester teaching me how to brew a proper cup of tea.  It does take time and it is worth that time.  Over the years I have enjoyed some very fine cups of tea.  I have acquired quite a collection of teas and enjoy sharing them with others.

It is that way with some things.  It takes time and effort to get to the fineness of things.  Those things are worth that fineness and the rewards are obvious.  I am learning that following Christ is like this.  It takes time.  It takes patience and yieldedness.  The effort is always worth it but it means that I must often wait when I am in a hurry. 

I try, every time I make a cup of tea to dwell on the lessons it has to teach me about my walk with Christ.  Nothing compares to those moments when the waiting and following yield new growth or realizations of how things can be for me.  It is in this simplicity that perhaps all of the answers may be found.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."