Most days, I rush through the process of brewing my tea.
Years ago, I learned that brewing a cup of tea offers the tea drinker a meditative moment in an otherwise hurried day. When done correctly, this engages all five sense- We watch as the tea leaves color the water in which they are brewed. We listen as the kettle boils and the water fills the cup. We feel warmth as we cradle the steaming cup in our hands. We inhale the aroma of the tea as it brews. Finally, we taste the tea. (In my case, it is always sweet and milky.)
Comfort in a cup.
Then, a couple of years ago, an English friend let me in on his tea-brewing secret. “I have found,” he said, “that if I dunk the bags in the hot water a few times, squeeze them out, dunk them and squeeze them again, that the tea tastes pretty much the same as if I allow it to brew normally.”
Ah-ha! I thought. A shortcut!
And no one, NO ONE loves a time-saver more than me because frantic over-productivity is my drug.
Too often, I rush through my days, anxiously careening from one task to another. Sometimes, I even feel guilty about all I haven’t accomplished even as I am working my fingers to the bone on something else.
Work. Work. Work.
Fall into bed exhausted.
Get up the next day and start it all over again.
I am pretty sure I am not alone in this. As a matter of fact, I think this impulse began the day Eden’s gates clanged shut behind Adam and Eve. I think this is why, at least in part, that God gave us the Sabbath— Sort of a divine time-out for all of humanity in which God throws a weighted blanket over us, tucks us in, and kisses us on the forehead as we flail about, crying and whining about all we have to do when he knows what we in our exhaustion can’t comprehend—We just need a bit of rest so that we can be sane again.
I know this. I really do. But dang it, but most days I can’t even allow my cup of tea to brew in its own sweet time. And if I do manage to commit to leaving that tea bag in the water for five LONG minutes, I then look around to see what I can accomplish while it brews. Bless my poor, frazzled, exhausted heart.
Maybe this is a struggle for you too. Let me leave you with these verses from Psalm 127, sweet words of comfort and peace that God brings to my spinning mind over and over again.
Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.Psalm 127:1-2
Peace, and rest, to you, my friends …