It’s not about the tea

You may be tempted to think this blog is about how much I enjoy tea. And reading. And being home. I mean, just because I’ve included some of my favorite quotes about these things—that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. By the way, have you heard this one by C.S. Lewis?

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.

Photo by Julian Hochgesang on Unsplash

And then there’s this little gem my niece sent a while back:

She was an adventurer at heart; but oh, how she loved drinking this tea from this mug in this chair. Oh, how she loved to be home. – Author unknown

Even the fictitious character, Mma Ramotswe, from the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book series, got in on the action:

Most problems could be diminished by the drinking of tea and the thinking through of things that could be done while tea was being drunk.

No, this blog isn’t about the simple pleasures and mental health benefits of sipping tea, and reading a good book, while cozily tucked into a favorite chair at home by the fire.

This piece is simply about love.

About how to love the people God places in our lives—family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and strangers.

It’s about how to love through action and not just in words. About how to create a space where love resides.

It’s about offering comfort and a listening ear and food to our families and all the other people God sends our way.

Author Shauna Niequist put it this way:

What people are craving isn’t perfection. People aren’t longing to be impressed; they’re longing to feel like they’re home. If you create a space full of love and character and creativity and soul, they’ll take off their shoes and curl up with gratitude and rest.

They’ll curl up with a steaming mug of tea on a comfortable chair. They’ll curl up and unload their burdens so we can help bear them.

There are a few ancients who wrote about this all-important topic of love:

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. – Romans 12:10

Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. – 1 John 3:18

There are so many ways to show love, to honor others and care for them. And one of those ways is by opening our homes, and our hearts, and our ears. By offering our selection of teas, our hearths, and our bookshelves to all who enter.

There will always be sorrow and tragedy and sickness and pain and death while we inhabit this damaged planet.

“But,” wrote Nanea Hoffman:

… no matter what chaos and difficulty the world throws at you, remember: there are still fresh cups of coffee [or better yet, chai latte] and good books and funny friends and tiny moments of nerdy joy to celebrate.

What if we could make some tiny moments of celebration and comfort and nerdy joy in our homes for anyone who enters? What would that look like?

I think it would look a lot like love in action.