I do not know about you, but I am not someone who likes to slow down. Instead, I relish completing tasks, feeling accomplished and together and achieving all that is necessary for my day. Perhaps this is why practising God’s presence throughout my day (the idea of recognising His presence moment by moment and learning to lean into that) has always felt like an unattainable goal. Of course, I would love to run my day as an ongoing conversation with the One who is concurrently the Creator of All Things and yet is closer than my breath. And yet I fail, time and time again.
Early mornings are, for me, different. Over my lifetime, I have consistently set that time aside to meet with God. But how can I take that and carry that with me throughout the rest of my day?
I have tried all sorts of things to encourage this in my life, from setting aside specific times, berating myself for not doing better, talking with others about this, to running reminders on my computer or phone. Initially, I programmed these to go off every 20 minutes, thinking that would be great. Until the reminders became unbelievably irritating, making any productivity impossible and anything but conducive to an ongoing conversation with God. In this past week, I have had another thought. Perhaps, this one can be of sustaining worth, an ongoing practice that can nourish my soul.
Could I turn drinking tea into an art form?
Might this be a place where I meet with God in my day? Could this become something sustainable and life-giving? To be sure, this will require a change in me.
I am not a natural tea drinker.
Being allergic to caffeine has hampered my development as a connoisseur of hot beverages. Decaffeinated tea tastes vile (in my limited attempts to convince myself to try it). To be fair, I have been informed by my far more educated tea-drinking friends that it really is nothing like its true form. When I was a child, the herbal tea varieties I encountered were floral concoctions that perhaps promised something in smell but were utterly disappointing in their delivery.
I occasionally drink decaffeinated coffee, and I do like it but not in the form supplied by most cafes – bitter in the extreme. I had assumed this was what all coffee tasted like. However, recently I discovered this is not true but instead has far more to do with stale beans left sitting around long past their use-by date due to lack of demand. And then, in recent years, I have found the holy grail! A couple of herbal tea varieties that actually are enjoyable to drink, coupling together flavour and aroma in a way that I previously thought was impossible.
Which got me thinking the other day – do I need to cultivate a habit of drinking tea? Could I, perhaps, turn it into an art form? Of course, it will take some effort to do this well. I cannot simply boil the jug, throw in the tea and return when it is cool enough to drink, downing it while standing and continuing with my day.
But could I instead do this well? Make this intentional?
Linger over the steeping tea,
sit down while it cools,
hold it in my hands,
let it warm me externally and internally,
and use this time to stop, wait, converse, and listen.
So this is my goal over the next couple of months. To learn to drink tea and to create a new rhythm. To make space for God to speak into my day throughout the day.
Father, it is hard to slow down. I have tried many times to cultivate a life of conversation with you. But I get busy, I forget, and in the rush, I drown you out. Please teach me to do this well, to try, and keep trying until this becomes a habit in my life. For we long to know you more. We long to see you, to hear you, and to follow you in all that we do. Amen
How about you? Do you have a way to connect with God throughout your day? I would love to hear what works for you and what doesn’t work. Is there a new habit you could cultivate? And if so, how? And, of course, do you know of any truly great varieties of herbal tea – I’m always after recommendations!
For those of you who keep track of these things I am sorry for the long silence, hopefully inspiration will come more frequently in the future. Feel free to comment below, or to contact us at any time. If you subscribe to our blog, you will be notified when new posts are available, and/or follow us on Instagram.