One Cup of Tea at a Time

Today, at church, the message was “To serve or not to serve.” We are to be in
service to the Lord. We can find a way that is a meaningful way for us to serve. I wonder how I can serve within my life with horses, all the trail rides and CTR’s and clinics.

This was a really appropriate message today. You see, Tom and I have been so busy, and he has worked so many long hours, that by Sunday morning, we just want to sit and relax. This has been going on now for just under 2 years. I felt like I just had to exist for a day and regroup. Yes, there have been a few times that we have been in Church, but not in a regular basis. Lately, I felt like I am finally feeling that something is missing.

Many of us have a long to do list. Some lists just get longer and longer with no time to get things completed. She had us think about prioritizing. We need to think about what is important and if God is first on that list? With God first, we don’t have to worry about the list. We pray and we give that list to God. Let God prioritize for us. The list will always change and grow, but God is a constant. Let him tell us what is important. Sometimes, resting the body and mind is as important as working a day to get some maintenance work done around the place.

While in church this morning, she told us to let go of everything that is at home to do and everything that is needed to get done on the list. We were to be totally in church, without the worries of the things that we need to do. We were to be at peace and in a prayerful mind. Doesn’t that sound like we should start and end each day? Don’t worry about the list, but start the day with a peaceful mine. To work on what is important to do and give up the worries to the Lord?

I really enjoyed the message by Pastor Susan. We don’t need to feel guilty by what we do or don‘t do. Her message was to find a way that each of us, individually, can serve. We can think about the Lord and be in prayer any time. But she reminded us that we need to be in fellowship with 2 or more people to have a sense of Christian fellowship and community. Yes, the outdoors give me a sense of God’s handiwork, but is that enough. I think I felt better when I had church as a constant, whether if was Sunday morning service, a bible study, or an adult fellowship time.

Of all topics today, the newsletter talked about a journey. (I have felt that I have been on a special journey with horses for more that a year now). We were to think about whether we had a journey with a life long goal in mind. One man’s journey turned into something totally different in the book, “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace”. Greg Mortenson set out to climb the 2nd tallest mountain, and by not doing so, he discovered that as he shared a pot of tea, he knew he had found a meaningful path to his life.

Isn’t that wonderful? When you least expect it, a new direction for your life happens. What happened in his life that made him open to the realization that there was a greater purpose? Are you open for that realization?

Just like the purpose of the book teaches us, we each as individuals have the power to change the world, one cup of tea at a time. How can we change the world?

What can we do, 1 small part at a time? Can we talk nice to each other? Or to a perfect stranger? Maybe our kind words will spark an epidemic of kind words.

One small part I do is to recycle. I taught my children to recycle as they learned about conservation in grade school. I continued to recycle cans, bottles and newspapers as they headed to high school and graduations. I figure that if I do my small part, the landfill will have the garbage of 1 less family.

As I think about this now, my lesson people used to know, by how I talked and hopefully through my actions, that I was a Christian. Today I wonder. Maybe as I haven’t been in church as often, and in the Christian community, the difference doesn’t show in my life. I need to change that. I’m ready to start back to church or maybe a Bible study on a regular basis.

In my horse life, what can I do? I can teach with more patience and empathy, one person at a time and one horse at a time. I can handle each horse and make sure to give the horse what the horse needs. I can pray and ask God to guide me through my training time, my lesson time, and my ride so I give that special animal that God created the time and patience that is needed.

Sometimes, it is hard to do that 1 small thing, to fill that 1 cup of tea, then to continue to fill that cup each day of your life. Maybe by changing a little now, our cups of tea will fill faster and faster each day, until one day, they truly do spill over.

Today, my special prayer to God was to give me the words that I need to say to my family. Maybe if I change my words, 1 small cup at a time, they will start to see that I’m not the same mother as I was when they were children. I want my family to understand me and to appreciate me. Do all mothers go through this? Our bodies change, or minds change, and how we think about things change. Am I the only one that feels this way? Will my children understand me, but only when they get to my age, to accept and understand that change?

I know that as I give this issue up to the Lord, and everything else that weighs heavy on my mind, I will not only feel better but I will be a better person for doing that. That way, I don’t go to sleep worrying and I don’t wake up worrying, and I’m sure that I will have a better night’s sleep.

What are your thoughts? How are you changing, one cup of tea at a time?

“Embrace the Journey!”