As I stared into my cup of hot water, and then over at the tea bag in my hand, I had to shake my head. I didn’t like tea up until recently, and I'm still kind of surprised that I like it. It's still not my favorite beverage, but it provides a small dose of comfort on a Friday night of studying.
I dropped the unassuming little bag full of dried leaves into the mug, enthralled by the bright colors that billowed out. I added a spoon full of honey to cut the edge of the sometimes bitter herbs and inhaled deeply.
A tea bag is really nothing too extraordinary. Dry leaves. Flimsy package. Pretty cheap.
Hot water is no fun to drink. Although, if you ask my childhood best friend, she’d tell you that I sometimes drink it before I sing at church in the mornings. There’s really nothing there but an opportunity to scorch your tongue.
But something happens when that little bag of leaves is dropped into that almost boiling water. Magic happens. As in the case with this evening’s cup of blueberry tea, brilliant purples swirl in my mug until they have diffused throughout. Before too long, the aroma of blueberry fields or blueberry muffins is captured in my nostrils.
Perhaps the trials of life are like hot water. Some colloquialisms would claim that it is so. Perhaps I am like a little tea bag. Unassuming. Not really all that special. That is, not until Someone decides that tea must be brewed. Only in hot water will my true colors show. Only through time will the aroma fill the air. Only time will tell if it will be sweet or bitter. Only He who brews can add sweetness to take off the bitter edge.
This is not my cup of tea, O God. May I, through this time of bathing in hot water, brew a sweet, sweet fragrance as an offering for You. May my true colors be those of grace, hope, and truth. And may they speak volumes to those who see them. You are the one who brings sweetness to this brew. I pray that You are pleased with the result.
Amen.
“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2
