5/10/12 Each morning Mother always made her tea for the day. Right in
the glass pitcher. She taught me to make perfect tea by adding the sugar while the water was hot. (We never called it "sweet tea," it just always was.) To keep the glass from breaking, she always put
a table knife in the pitcher and would pour the water so that it hit the knife first. I guess that somehow dispelled the heat.
I was reminded of this today as I read a “keep your spoon in the cup”
incident described by the author in Surprised
by Oxford, as her former professor was encouraging her, a “new” believer.
Keeping the spoon in the cup keeps the china from cracking under the heat, she explained…..The metal of the spoon becomes a conductor, protecting the delicate china from extreme in temperature.You need to keep the spoon in the cup, Caro….especially when things get hot. God lifts us up, but He also grounds us. Fear will get into the cracks; fear ultimately is what breaks us apart. (Weber, 289)
I mulled my mother’s teaching with Weber’s analogy and some needed
“fear” related verses. Mulling, Joshua 1:9, Psalm 16:8, Psalm 27:1-3, Isaiah
41:10, John 14:27, II Timothy 1:7 & Hebrews 13:6, as I drank my English tea
in my Hadley stoneware mug from KY. What a combo!