Tea with Milk and Sugar

My 3 year old cuddly sweet Jordan got up from bed and asked from the top of the stairs, “Mommy, do bombs drop and kill everybody on the ground?”  Having just watched a history special on the Cuban Missile Crisis, read some accounts of Hiroshima, and in general been thinking of World War II off and on having just re-read The Hiding Place I was wondering how he knew what I was thinking.  Had he overheard my husband and I talking late last night, reading gory accounts of a Doctor trying to help people after the A-bomb fell? 

Come to find out big brother told him this because he saw it on the Iron Giant movie.  Yet another kid movie to question their viewing of.  Eeek.  So I talk to them both sharing my best mother comfort and explaining that bombs do drop places and kill people.  That didn’t help.  Hey boys, worst case scenario if a bomb does drop and kills us we will be in Heaven with people we love and Jesus and it’s better than Disneyland you know.  That didn’t help.  There are no bombs in our land I lied!  “Oh good!” sighs the oldest and they both roll over happy and go to bed. 

Like a lot of people I have plenty of mixed political and humanitarian views of this subject that I won’t go into here.  But with war and reading accounts of war, not being paranoid but just a dose of reality, to me it comes down to the realness and closeness of Eternity.  Eternity is real, it is forever and it has a place.  John Bevere’s book and message “Driven by Eternity” will rock you right out of your surface life and get you at your gut.  What we do in this life matters and dictates how we spend Eternity.  Simply good works won’t bring me to Heaven, but  rather how I live according to the Word of God and yes some good works will come from that.  Titus 2:11-12  says “the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…” We’ve been given the instructions to life.  The How-To and What For.  These instructions bring rich life and put us in communion with The Father so if we are subjected to some tragedy (bomb thought here) we have the access to the One who can carry us through. 

Newsflash to me…We aren’t judged by feeling good about ourselves. 

I often judge myself well based on how good I think I am.  I like to give myself credit.  Extra credit.  Sort of how I tell Joseph I made us, not saved us, made us 50$  by buying the coffee maker that was on sale.  We now have $50 dollars to spend. He doesn’t get the math.  Spiritually, I feel a call to quit with the credit and be as real as I can for my sake, my children’s sake, people I’m supposed to help sake.  

Not solving world peace here but talking about soul peace. 

In my home we love Maria, my husband doesn’t know, so he’s exempt.  But we, myself, Joseph Jr, Jordan and Violet,  love her.  She’s so chipper!  “When you wake up, wake up! It’s healthy!!!”, she belts beautifully.  I’ve actually adopted her nosy advice on this one, (most of the time) and have found that just getting up when it’s time instead of dragging the sad ordeal out is easier on my emotions.  I grew up watching The Sound of Music with my Mom and sister in our big 1970’s scratchy orange and brown overstuffed rocking chair, eating popcorn.  Liked the movie just alright.  But as soon as my first son was 2 years old I found myself buying the DVD and repeating history, and this time really liking the movie.  I’ve taken it a step further and initiated! sing-alongs in the car.  So here are my favorite things:

rain on the roof at night, daffodils and tulips, the seasons (especially fall), kitties (esp. mine) had to give cat love, Australian Shepherds (only other peoples), Haystack Rock, ocean storms, scary movies about the ocean (Perfect Storm, Jaws…), the life-changing Word of God, mornings with friends and their kids, nights out, Ed Grimley you don’t say, homeschooling, pudding, fresh produce, birds coming back in Spring, children’s books (Mr. Putter, Little Bunny Follows His Nose, Mama Loves, A your Adorable), saints that have changed my life through their books and tapes like Lester Sumrall, Jesse Duplantis, Kenneth Hagin, Kathryn Kuhlman, Gloria Copeland (and Kenneth Copeland), Corrie Ten Boom, Norvel Hayes, Rodney Howard-Browne, Roberts Liardon, John Bevere, Christian and Robin Harfouche, Ruth Bell-Graham, Richard Wurmbrand, C.S Lewis, Bill Hybels, Joyce Meyer, Myles Munroe on and on, Disneyland with kids, any place we vacation as I always want to move there, Rocky 1 and 2, naming things (people or animals), homemade hot fudge with peppermint ice cream, books in general, windows, being outside in any weather for short bits, Stay Gold by Stevie Wonder, any time with my kids except those times (whining, I’m tired, things are breaking, people are hungry, noise is loud), baths, my people I love.

Every day at around 9am and 3pm I drink black tea with milk and sugar.  Pretty cup, saucer, sitting down somewhere, breathing deeper.  It’s been my secret until now that I strangely feel connected to people I’ve never met, both real and fictional. 

Corrie Ten Boom, having tea in the Beje with her father and sisters, loving their simple life of serving for God’s glory never knowing what He would soon ask them to do.  Lay down their lives for greater glory.  Reaching countless people with a message of His love is deeper than any darkness, all born out of horrific loss in concentration camps during Hitler’s regime. 

On a lighter note, I connect with Mr. Putter, the sweet old man in Cynthia Rylant’s childrens books.  His simple life adventures with his nervous cat are reminders to take time to make good soup, make a list of good things if I can’t write a novel, build and fly a model airplane with my sons if they want to someday, take the time to listen to good music.  His simple pursuits are worthy and all marked with a pause for tea.  And not just tea in a cup but there he is at the table with a tray filled with a pot of tea, a cup and saucer, his sugar bowl and creamer.  I’ve taken my ritual up a notch after noticing that.  It’s one thing to enjoy the drink and another thing to have complete pretty service in front of you. 

There are many more people I think of and somehow connect to, but it’s a tradition I love and am teaching my children.  We have an annual fancy Valentine’s tea party complete with berries and homemade cookies.  We use their adorable circus teaset and they are true gentlemen.  It’s a precious time of watching them try their best to remember every polite manner they’ve learned.  A few times a week they have peppermint tea in big plastic mugs and they love cuddling up with it.  They know it’s a special time to pause.  That’s the point.  Live life to the fullest, it passes so quickly, and with all the pursuits and callings, take special times to pause, think, and enjoy it.