Put The Kettle On

I do enjoy a cup of steaming hot black tea. I take mine with a splash of milk, British style. Since I was a youngster, I've welcomed the call to "put the kettle on" knowing that it would be followed by the steeping and pouring of my favorite hot beverage. In New Brunswick, Canada, the maritime province where I was born, the cold winters bring plenty of reasons for visiting over a good cup of tea. The mild summers make tea drinking a year round practice. Even though I now live in the steamy South, thanks to air-conditioning, I drink hot tea even in the months of July and August.

At sixty years of age, I realize that there is much more to be appreciated here than just consuming tea. It would seem to me, that the very ritual of setting out cups & saucers, milk & sugar and the tea pot, (covered with a "tea cozy"), literally "sets the table" for a valued face to face visit with a friend or loved one. We stop and take the time to invest in one another, even if it's just for ten or fifteen minutes. It's a way of saying "Come, sit, and let me give you my undivided attention while we sip our tea." That is a rare thing in this era of cell phones and text messages!

Just yesterday, my eighty-two year old mother was wistfully observing : "You're never really alone with anyone these days! You don't have the pleasure of some one's undivided attention anymore. There's a constant stream of interruptions with messages that must be read and answered right away!"

I know exactly what she means. The urgent intrudes on nourishing relationships. "Just let me get this" is the antithesis of "Come, sit here with me, and let's catch up over tea!"

This blog will be my invitation to you to explore topics that will edify and refresh, much like a well-brewed cup of tea. Often, the best way to "redeem the time" is to stop multi-tasking and just be still. We'll consider truths from God's Word that we can take back with us into our fast-paced day. It will be a reminder of God's presence with us.

 So I invite you...come join me. You can easily imagine me at my computer with my favorite hot drink.