A Priori-TEA? Absolu-TEA-ly!

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. (Psalm 5:3, KJV)

Do I believe that priori-TEA times are important for one's relationship with the LORD?

YES,.....BUT.....today my early morning "quiet" schedule was just a "stab" at a true "Tea With Thee" time. Lots of "valid"---at least, valid to me, reasons. 

But God...in His grace granted a reprieve of sorts when a great time slot (between 1:30 and 2:30) opened up for a longer time of prayer and meditation. AND....isn't that what a quiet time is all about?

How special that my tea pot time was "spot on" for my afternoon cuppa raspberry decaf.

Time with the Lord. A priority? Absolutely! But.....keeping the intent of my commitment is more important than my "normal" checklist" & that mentality helped assuage my guilt.

Plus, the Lord filled me with Psalm 5 tea words:

• ..for med-Tea-tation (v. 1) from this "all those in communi-TEA" lament of David's. (v. 11 & 12)
• Priori-TEA of early prayer times in David's life. (v. 3)
• God hates iniqui-TEA. (v. 5)
• Recognition of the mul-TEA-tude of God's mercies. (v. 7)
• David's humili-TEA  in worship as he must have been prostrate before the holy temple. (v.7) Dr. Constables's comments on this verse gave me the idea of an at-TEA-tude of vulnerabili-TEA in worship. (Sonic Light, p. 25)
• Consequences of guil-TEA behavior of the wicked. (v. 9-10)
• Visibili-TEA of trust and joy in the lives of the righteous (v. 11-12) who walk in the straight way. (v. 8) 

"Tea with Thee." Priority accomplished? Absolutely! 

"sen-TEA-ment"

But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself....(Acts 20:24, KJV)

Sipping my morning brew from a cuppa with much sentimental value had warm nostalgia tugging at me as I began my Tea With Thee time. Certainly, there is a place for sentimentality in our lives. My "stuff" reflects my sentimental nature. I have LOTS of sentimental "tea" items.

But God....through today's My Utmost for His Highest entry, "Could This Be True of Me?" (3/4) got my attention. "It is easier to serve God without a vision (or call) because then you are not bothered by what God requires." Oswald Chambers likened such behavior as "actions guided by common sense, veneered over with Christian sen-TEA-ment."  Not focusing on "what God requires." Service for the Lord is NOT a place for sentiment. Sentiment can give a distorted spiritual picture. More me than Thee. Just a veneer to make my service look pretty.

Chambers' entry spoke to my heart because I am so influenced by my emotions and feelings----that it can become a detriment. Plus, I'm pragmatic to the core and both emotions and practicality can be a deterrent to "abandonment to God." (Chambers)

May I pray, as Chambers concluded. "Lord may I not consider if I am of use but may I only consider that I am Yours. May I serve You and do only what you require---act with justice, love kindness and walk humbly with you, O God." (Micah 6:8)

"Priori-TEA" Time

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33, KJV )

Priority Time. A new brew for an old familiar term, Quiet Time. Karin Conlee "coined" this term, or at least presented it to me and a "packed" room, at the Downline Women's Summit. 

Fellowship with Father God. A time to be with Him. Spend time with Him. Seek that first AND then all else is added. God can even redeem the time. There is NO substitute for this time.
Jesus set that example when he slowed His own pace of ministry----teaching, healing and discipling, to pull apart and spend time with His Father. (Matthew 14:23)
Even as one matures, this time is just as important, if not more so.

There is a need for intimacy with Him---to know Him better, that we might love Him more & be enabled to love & serve others well. That teaching has resonated in my mind over the last 6-8 months. From books, various pulpits, blogs, and messages from friends, I know God wants me to pay attention to this GREAT commandment. (Mark 12:30-31)

Intimate time in fellowship with Him is key to embracing this truth as a part of my daily walk. A time just for  me. Me and Thee. Not an accomplishment time.

So.....it can no longer be just a quiet time----it must be a "priori-TEA time" AND it might even get a little NOISY with praise and singing.

There's already been a good bit of caffeinated cuppas consumed during my "Tea With Thee" time, synonymous with a "prioi-TEA" time, so it can "rock, " on occasion.

A priori-TEA cuppa serve with a little sweet bread and a lot of truth from the Bread of Life.

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS : Liber-TEA

3/2/14 Sue Monk Kidd's rich writing in The Invention of Wings (2014) shows the atrocities of slavery & its effects, which are well depicted in the voices of Sarah and her slave girl Hetty aka "Handful." Sarah, a wealthy Charleston girl, received Hetty for her 11th birthday, though she strongly protested.
The easily readable format is 1st person entries, which alternate between the two female protagonists.

The wispy feather on the frontispiece seems to foretell Handful's desire for liber-TEA. Maybe that's why her collection of feathers to stuff the story quilt were so important----giving strength and resolve to one day "fly away."

Hetty "Handful" Grimké was 10 years old when her mother told her  the "malarkey" of the time in Africa that "their" people could fly. Hetty knew that they were slaves and they had no such magic. Though often she dreamed of "flying away."

Her dreams reminded me of the old gospel song, 

"Just a few more weary days 

and then, I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O Glory, I'll fly away.

When I die, Hallelujah, bye and bye,

I'll fly away."

Hetty was taught verses of scripture by Aunt-Sister and other slaves BUT she remained a handful, bucking "obedience" in many ways. Yet, she remembered she was a "person under God." (p. 324)

After losing her mother, Hetty said, "I couldn't do a thing but walk the yard trying to siphon my sorrow. The sorry truth is you can walk your feet to blisters, walk til Kingdom-come and you never will outpace your grief."

Sarah, on the other hand, at age 4 witnesses a scourging of one of the slaves and becomes mute for a week. "My words seemed sucked into the cleft between my collarbones. I rescued them by degrees by praying, bullying and wooing. (p. 11)
She tried to grant Hetty her freedom but her parents thwarted and ridiculed those plans. In teenage years she regretted her pathetic protests but mostly she feared ostracism of family. "I feared it most of all!" (p. 17)
Where Hetty had a dominant personality, Sarah lived in shadows often "romanticizing the life she didn't choose (p. 295), and the recalling of failed events "hollowed out little pieces of my chest." "....the phantom of what might've been, the terrible allure of it could still snatch me." (p. 339)

Still, throughout the book, one sees Sarah's attempts to grant liberty to Hetty. Teaching Hetty to read was another of Sarah's "against the law" acts----but a bond created by that act had lasting effects. It was a foretelling of Sarah's life course as she, along with her sister, Nina, became a prominent  abolitionist.

Sarah and Hetty, two women trapped within lives and times of pre-Civil War days, both in roles they seemed helpless to change----yet both ultimately grow into extraordinary and inspirational women. Monk documents this in her afterword.

Admittedly the topic of slavery is one which makes me feel supremely uncomfortable. Often, I avoid books like this, they make me feel both angry and sad, yet moved---as did The Book Thief. Other readers might want to avoid it for those same reasons. BUT....I'm glad I read it. It is well written and much of it is documented to be historically correct, though it is a work of fiction. 

This book is more than just a glimpse into slavery. It's full of word pictures, at their best, or in many ways, at their worst, because of their horrific depiction of those inhumane truths. Liberty at a time when there was none for so many people of color.

Slavery does not liberate. Slavery dehumanizes. Today it's called human trafficking.A grave violation. Human liberty remains crucial. Slavery and exploitation are the antithesis of liberty, regardless of the era.  We need NOT to forget. That's why this is a worthy read.

"chari-TEA" : a Re-Brew

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. (Galatians 5:13, NIV)

Today's speaker at Downline Women's Summit, Lysa TerKeurst, caught my attention when she said, "when I've done something for someone else, I like to be noticed and thanked." "Whereas," she continued,  '"a wise-hearted woman has a servant's heart."  Such a woman "tucks her quiet acts" of un-noticed areas of service, where only God sees. Not done for the eyes of others.
I imagined such gifts of love, in the area of financial service, being given anonymously. Without tangible reward---name on a plaque or thank you gift included when donation is given. Conviction!

Charitable type of love is in an overflow of one's love for the Lord which allows one to serve others well. It is not a love that needs credit.

Charity in the Hebrew is tzedakah---completely voluntary or a religious obligation---typically seen as a moral obligation, a charitable giving to be performed regardless of financial standing, even by poor people. A works-orientation of sorts.

These actions can certainly be seen as "acts" of charity BUT greater still are those same works which are done as an outpouring of love from God, Himself.

If one becomes more interested in keeping the commandments to establish one's own merit than in loving others, then the message is lost. Even if one serves others out of obligation to observe the law, then it is done for "self "rather than for the "others" one is appearing to serve. In such a way, that service fulfills one's own desires. According to the Greek translation, charity is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13) BUT is fleshly service, "charity" without love? Charity without love, is that an oxymoron?

True charity is God's work. We are but His hands and feet to show Christ's love to the world. Charity is expressed by serving one another. When the object of our faith is Christ, who loved us, we are motivated and empowered to express His kind of love to others. His Love Works.

"electrici-TEA"

"I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, 
but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12, NASB) 

An e-mail from son-in-law, Corey, warmed my heart. (No pun intended, or was it??) Sweet Corey who reads my blog, says that lately he's had "tea" words whirring in his head. His subject line for the recent message was,  "I have tea every day, its my job."  As an electrician at FedEX, that certainly rings true.

Electrici-TEA!!! Hahaha! It just hit me this morning reading about the "power" of God's love. Just a thought. Light, power....

John 1:3-5--English Standard Version (ESV)

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome. 

A cuppa, surrounded by the light--brewing in daylight, under the artificial light, & even documented with a flash of light. In the spiritual realm there is no such thing as too much "light" from the One who is Light.

Thanks, "Corey Gene"---a family "joke" name. Isn't God good! When in-laws are true family, we are all blessed.

"chari-TEA"

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (1 Corinthians 13:13, KJV)

Chari-TEA! It's all about love. The Greek for charity is "agape" translated as unconditional love. Here in these verses from 1 Corinthians 13, one clearly gets the idea that love is NOT about self.

"Self" often acts for its own profit, and seeks its own with a "puffed up" ego. According to this chapter, charity does none of these. Longsuffering and kindness are factors of this love. Charity bears all things with hope and endurance.

Without love, mankind is nothing.

It's a covenant love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term necessarily extends to the love of one’s fellow man.

Dr. Constable dubs the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians as the supremacy of love. "Love is the most fundamental and prominent of these graces. The love in view is God's love, that He has placed in the believer by the indwelling Spirit, that should overflow to God and others." (p. 153)
An over flow of my morning tea opened my eyes to the reality of a cuppa chari-TEA. Overflowing of love is a good thing.

Disclaimer, I added a little tea to the saucer so that you could see it & get the idea.
Not the first time such a spill has taken place---but now it has meaning.

Sipping a cuppa chari-TEA allows love for God and others to spill over into life, just as the saucer for my morning brew caught the overflow and drips from my cup. That's what our charity needs to do......splash all over others and cover them with love.

"tea" blends

1) O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
 ; (humili-TEA)

Nor do I involve myself in great matters,


Or in things too difficult for me. (teachabili-TEA)

2) Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; (sereni-TEA)
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
 (tranquili-TEA)

My soul is like a weaned child within me. (gra-TEA-tude)

3) O Israel, hope in the Lord  (sweetness of Hope in Him) 

From this time forth and forever. (eterni-TEA) (Psalm 131)

 

Sometimes I desire a stronger morning cuppa. Sometimes I need one. Sometimes a longer steeping time helps, but that's tricky because bitterness can be the result. Usually I just defer to master tea blenders and use one of theirs----blends from all the best tea growing regions. This morning I found a psalm that seemed to blend the best "teas" for my morning cuppa.

Psalm 131 is one of the shortest of the Psalms, "but one of the longest to learn" as C. H. Spurgeon says. (Treasury of David, vol. 6, p. 136)

Yet, those 3 verses can provide beneficial blends to my life's cuppa. Humili-TEA. Teachabili-TEA. Sereni-TEA. Tranquili-TEA. Gra-TEA-tude. All blended and sweetened with hope for eterni-TEA)
.

Again, Spurgeon says it well, "Lowliness and humility are here seen in connection with a sanctified heart, a will subdued to the mind of God, and a hope looking to the Lord alone." (Spurgeon, p. 136)

What a sweet "tea blend" to sip and savor as I ponder Psalm 131 throughout my day.

"scru-TEA-ny"

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. (Psalm 139: 23-24, NASB)

Scrutiny requires that one looks within. A spiritual check-up.  A look at the heart. Vital signs. A motive check. 

The problem with scrutinizing one's spiritual life is the limitation of one's  own humanity. A great frailty in most folks is the inability to see one's own faults.
It's God who can penetrate the recesses of our hearts---those "desperately wicked areas." (Jeremiah 17:9) 

One must be willing to ask God to do the search. To probe and dig deep. "Down where our unspoken thoughts swell and unstated  motives hide." (Living the Psalms, p. 282)
Such searching by God of one's inner most being could be so-o-o painful. Why would one want to do that? Could truth revealed by the Great Physician change one's actions?
The result is an awareness of anything that brings pain to God or to others. Deep hurts. Knowing....and then changing, with God's help, allows one to walk in the everlasting way....a path of righteousness, and to bring others along with her.

Something to think about during my "Tea with Thee" time....as I sip a cuppa scru-TEA-ny from my most transparent teacup.

"tenaci-TEA"

Be still,  and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10, KJV)

Holding on can be hard, especially if it requires waiting. Tenacity is needed. Waiting to see what God will do. 

Disappointment occurred today when news was received that my "local" grandson did not get accepted to the campus school at the university. His assigned school has been taken over by the state and is in an unsafe area of town which adds great concern to the disappointment.
Though his mom had been diligent in doing all the "right" things, too many other variables seemed to over-ride her dream.
Too many others parents were employed at the university.
Too many others "grandfathered in" as siblings.
Too many others lived a "tad" closer to the school itself.

Regardless of the reasons for the outcome, it wasn't the news any of us wanted to hear.  

Oswald Chambers 2/22 entry in "My Utmost for His Highest" was a reminder that when hopes are disappointed, it isn't the end of a matter. Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation...(Revelation 3:10) reminds us to NOT fall into the temptation to worry or to rush to "fix-it" in our own strength.
Waiting is required. Waiting with absolute certainty that God is sovereign. Waiting with scripture verses in our minds rather than fretting and being unduly upset. We need to "take heart" and not let our anxious thoughts multiply within us. (Psalm 94:19)

Great hope is shown by the psalmist in Psalm 27---a hope rooted in God's goodness. A hope that is patient, waiting on Him. A hope that gives strength to our tenacity.

For He will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble. (Psalm 27:5)

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.  (Psalm 27:14)

Spiritual tenacity is needed. A big cuppa tenaci-TEA!