"uni-TEA"

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24, NASB)

UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN THE HILL COUNTRY OF TEXAS!
A cuppa fideli-TEA for two.

"La-TEA-tude"

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35, ESV)

God has given us choices in our walk with Him. He guides and encourages but He doesn't dictate.

He has given us la-TEA-tude---that freedom to choose how to act or what to do.

 IF the word "if" is translated καθώς ἠγάπησα then it can be taken as "seeing that," you love one another. To me it shows the choice made. In "my" words, the actions of love toward others is seen by man and God as actions of a disciple of God. (Dotsy THOTS, as I'm Trusting, Him, On This Subject)

The coordinates are there running north to south and east to west. (latitude and longitude) From God in heaven to us on earth. His love to us comes down and our love to him goes up and out. When it spreads out to others horizontally, the coordinate /intersection is at the "cross."

In my head I might have this wrong; in my heart, I have it right!

Some of my views as I gratefully sip my cuppa of la-TEA-tude with the Lord this morning.

Nif-TEA-Gif-TEA

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8, ETV)

So many advertisements this week are for perfect "love" gifts. Yet, what most folks really want is love itself. Those acts of love that express that deep feeling. Sometimes it's easier to buy a gift than to pass on love.

Actually, apart from God, the author of love, we can't do it----even on this love-proclaimed day, our actions speak louder than those Hallmark sentiments and bouquets of red roses. Share the love. Give of yourself. Pass it on.

 "Love in your heart wasn't put there to stay, love isn't love 'til you give it away," came to mind when I saw this tea store sign but "integri-TEA" had me google it. Two sources were given. I choose the older one. (Oscar Hammerstein II)

Heart shaped little cakes were baked in a pan given to me by Julie C.
I "passed on" to the Parlows--even the dog got one, by his own devices.
Sorry Tim, Edgar beat you to it!

"Sovereign-TEA"

The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. (Psalm 103:19, NASB)

And what are the heavens but the creation of God's hand, illustrating God's sovereign majesty over our lives. From Psalms to Isaiah, readings have continued to remind me of God's sovereignty, especially in creation. (Isa. 40:12-28)

Our creator has supreme power and dominion over us and all our circumstances. In Jesus Lives, Sarah Young writes, as if the Lord Himself were speaking, "I am sovereign over the circumstances of your life, so there are always opportunities to be found in them. ...."

So many much of scripture tell us of God's sovereignty. So....why don't we live this truth----instead of trying to "control" life's circumstances on our own???

Calligrapher & photographer---my precious son-in-law, Corey---
 who reminded me of this important "TEA" word!

Our God reigns. Our God rules. 

God is in charge. Not me. 

How comforting that is this morning as I sip my cuppa sweetened with the knowledge of His sovereign-TEA!

"Integri-TEA"

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9, KJV)

There is more to writing than a really SHARP pencil and a high quality eraser. That's just my starting point, as I jot ideas on my "blue for blog" notepad. One of those is integrity. It's sort of a Christian blogger's "TEA-ology" gut check. "Integrity" brand is actually stamped on my #2 pencil.

• Check motives. Thy glory, not mine. 
• Check author. Thy words, not my words. 
• Check audience. Thee, not readers. 

Blogger's Prayer by Ann Voskamp (2010) summed it up well.
Yahweh, You alone are my God, not Google. Jesus, You alone are my Savior, not site meters, And Holy Spirit, You alone are my comforter, not comments.

Her prayer was the impetus for me trying to "do it right." Blog with integrity. It's why I cite when I know a reference and indicate unknown source as just that; a note from my marginalia, a memory scrap, or a jot on a scrap of paper used as a bookmark, etc.

Prayerful beginnings: Examine me, and probe my thoughts! (Psalm 139:23) Test me, Lord for my heart is deceitful in ways only you can know.

Integrity is a quality that I certainly need to keep "brewing" in all areas of my life, not just my blog----tho that's a good place to start with this morning's entry and my cuppa integri-TEA.

As I sit before the Lord today with my cuppa, may he reveal to me areas in my life where I need more of Thee and less of me.

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

"traveloci-TEA"

Choose for yourselves this day.....(Joshua 24:15, NIV)

At our house you can tell where we've chosen to travel by hubby's collection of mugs in our kitchen cabinet. Mugs that mostly bring good memories. What you can't see are our places we've chosen to travel in our minds. Things that too often we lug mentally. 

Oh the places we go, even in our minds----or as Dr. Seuss writes, Oh the Places You'll Go. (1990)

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...” 

So....today when you pour your morning cuppa, remember that daily we "choose whom we will serve" and even as Dr. Seuss says, "Today is your day"----your day to choose. 

Maine, Summer of 2013
A trip chosen to be with family & to celebrate the 90th birthday of Ashley Bryan.
Both were times of rejoicing!

"Traveloci-TEA" Might make it easier and cheaper but it's only a company. Travelocity takes you only where you choose to go. It can arrange for you to go to faraway places but the luggage you lug there is all yours. So.....remember, "This is the day the Lord hath made" so...."rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24)
That's what you need to pack up for your all your trips. Even those you take only in your mind.

SABBATH SNAPSHOT: writabili-TEA

Melanie Benjamin certainly has writability as is shown in her recently published, The Aviator's Wife. This historical fiction is based on the life of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, herself known for writability in her classic, Gift from the Sea.

Benjamin's easy, yet informative read, gives much insight into the once shy daughter of a US ambassador and her very complicated marriage to Charles Lindbergh, once the "darling" of our nation. It tells of that time in our country's history which my parents knew all about. I, not so much----thus my interest in the book.

Well-written. Yes.....but, with it came disclosures of fears and struggles that Mrs. Lindbergh kept from prying eyes. Supposedly she and Charles carefully edited her diaries near the end of his life so.....it probably wasn't the perfect little marriage, which was the public's perception. 

Ms Benjamin says The Aviator's Wife is primarily the story of a deeply intelligent woman. A woman of resilience. A woman who lived in the shadow of her husband.

As historical fiction, apart from the well-known actual people, events and locales presented....all else are used fictitiously by the author. The kidnapping and murder of their 20 month old son, Lindbergh's heroic flight of 1927, infidelity, other children of Charles as later DNA evidence proved, his comments interpreted as anti-semitic during the prelude of WWII, and his 1953 Pulitzer Prize winning, The Spirit of St. Louis are all documented events.

The author includes these facts but then weaves in the emotional aspect of this mystifying marriage in order to tell Anne's story. Fiction and reality blurred, but the story is told from adventures in flying as her husband's only crew to praying as she finally began to write, lingering over words as she searched for imagery.....trying to look at the world through her own goggles, not his.

Words of truth or fiction---as written by the author:

• What do you want to do? Marry a hero. (Lucky Lindy was America's hero.) 
• I would always be looking for that proud glance; that feeling of belonging, of knowing who I was and that I mattered, for the rest of my life. 
• Always the image of the of a child and a birthday cake with one candle....."No Anne. We need to forget." 
• To my children, I was just mom. That was all. And before that, I had been Charles wife, the bereaved mother of a slain child. That was all. 
• He spent much of his time working on some engine or another....not emotions; something he could understand. 
• When he was home, the air in the house was so impenetrable with tension....had to retreat to breathe. 
• Marriage breeds its own special brand of loneliness.

One with writability provides us with a cuppa readabili-TEA---though sometimes we must read with care if we hope to extract God's lessons from a book with the cultural reality of our times!

"identi-TEA": a Re-brew

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; (Jeremiah 1:5a, NIV)

Those words were spoken by the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah. They are true for us today, as well.  God, as creator, even knows and names the stars. (Isaiah 40:26.) But as our creator, God factors love into His relationship with man.  We are known and personally loved by our Good Shepherd; (John 10:14) He calls us friend. (John 15:15) He calls us by name. (John 10:13) He has set us apart for the plans He has for us, as Jeremiah continued in the verse.
Therefore Our true identity is in Him.

This morning's cuppa of identi-TEA was my third one. In October of 2010, I began with the many ID badges I had worn in my life time and concluded with, "I plan to savor my identi--TEA with a “cuppa”----Lyons Gold Blend---as I begin my day with Him, because that’s the identity that counts for eternity. In July 2011, as I was entering a new season in life, I had begun to reflect on and rethink my identity---wondering how others might "see" me.

Now-a-days,  I ask, "Do my actions allow others to "see" my true identity? Child of God.

Once again, on this snowy February morning in 2014, I'm spending "Tea With Thee" time with my Lord sipping a cuppa true identi-TEA. A cuppa poured into my heart by the One whose sacrifice gave me that identitiy. My ID is really His ID imparted.

Remember---the Lord calls you by name, even your nickname...
 or your grandparent one!

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1) 

"authori-TEA"

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. (Romans 13:1, NIV)

Leaving church Tuesday, loud claps of thunder, the wall-shaking, window-rattling kind, had everyone's attention. It reminded me of the Lord speaking with Moses on Mt. Sinai. the lightning, thunder and powerfully loud trumpet blast certainly got the attention of the Israelites. They trembled. (Exodus 19) God's word had power for their lives and gave authority to Moses to lead them.

Sometimes God's word seems to speak LOUDLY to me. When it continues to thunder in my head, I know that I am suppose to pay attention. "For the word of God is living and powerful,..."(Hebrews 4:12, NJV) It is the authority Christians choose to follow.

Power, literally translated, is “authority.” You have been delivered from the power, or authority, of darkness and placed into God’s kingdom. (Colossian's 1:13)

Authority, the right to rule and the right to be obeyed, belongs to the Lord, the Creator of all things. All authority belongs to Him.

A worthy cuppa for all---God's authori-TEA!

difficul-TEA

I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the Lord, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel. (Isaiah 45:3, NKJV)            

Have you ever felt like a lone sheep?  As if wolves in the distance were waiting to devour you? Especially in the dark of night. Isn't that when fear is greatest? During the night watch.

You're not alone---even though you might feel alone. 

Pain is unavoidable in life. Yet, we try everything to keep it at bay. Pain avoidance is common in our culture. We run from it. Both ease and convenience are promoted. There's even a credit card that will "pay" for it. Difficul-TEA is a fact of life, regardless of what the ad-men say. Even money can't always "buy" your way out of it.

So what does one do with the unwanted, sometimes unwarranted, pain of struggle?

The Psalmist David tells us in Psalm 23, that our Shepherd is with us in the shadow of death. Not just death, but any dark ravine of pain through which life leads us. Those detours of darkness. 

We need to seek the face of the One whose face gives light during those days---and nights. According to the words of Isaiah the prophet, God can use those dark times and actually give them to us as treasures. Life lessons of struggle learned with the One who calls us by our name---just like the psalmist's shepherd.

Some of life's best lessons are taught in the most difficult times. 

A cuppa difficul-TEA might not be our choice....But God.....can use it for our good. Just knowing that, soothes my heart.