Sunday Afternoon Tea

Note: I know this will make S.A.T. pop up again on RSS feeds. Sorry! I just wanted to add that I truly don't feel judged. I welcome those who don't always agree with me. That's the whole point of this post... be the person God is calling you to be and know there are differences in the Kingdom of God about how we pursue life.

Sit down with me and enjoy a cup of Earl Grey while we chat. It is so good to be home again. When I am working outside the home, there is only time for maintenance and making an attempt to declutter. This next week I hope to enjoy some creative projects and begin a new study for my quiet times now that I once again have... time.

It's interesting to me how God works by giving me "ponderings" during the week to chat about on Sundays. Tasha Tudor's birthday led me down the path of ponderings this week. Her decision to live life as she desired to the point she created her own little world is what draws us to her (and we meet her through her art work and books).

I was thinking this week how she has inspired me to begin doing more of that, in my life and on this blog. It has saddened me to have many readers who used to comment regularly stop coming by as I made the decision long ago to communicate how important my faith is to me and all I do. I stop by their blogs and I'm no longer on their lists of Favorites but I continue to read and admire them where our love of books, beauty, and Tea Time meet.

I did not make the decision to recommend our new VP lightly. I had already set a time to have it post the next morning when I went back an hour later, sat here at the computer staring at the screen... and changed the post to DRAFT form to think about it a little longer... later deciding to publish it and then adding the second post when I arrived home. I knew there would be those who would be disappointed in my decision and perhaps (as with others in the past) drop me from their Favorites list. Also, I choose most often to bring no controversy here... except perhaps our favorite teas and lattes. :)

However, when I first pushed that Create Your Blog button and wrote out that first post (once I figured out how to do it back then, it wasn't as user friendly as it is now), I had a few reasons for wanting to write. First and most importantly... to encourage other people who are going through difficult trials that God is at work in their life and this isn't Heaven, yet. Second... share my love for beauty, books, and Tea Time. Third... share my passion for emergency preparedness (a well stocked pantry and some planning ahead). This is the core of all I write and do and developing precious friendships has been an unexpected fruit of that experience.

In my ponderings this week during lulls in the chaos of work... when one could stare out into space and ponder thoughts in their heart... I thought about how far God has brought me to be more like Tasha. Not spiritually as she made no claims to be a Christian (as far as I can tell). No, in that my mentor is and probably always will be Edith Schaeffer. In the now forty years since I gave my life to Christ, I'm getting better at trying to serve Him to the best of my ability... to become the person He created me to be rather than try to fit the mold others expect. I desire to be the person God most wants me to be, followed closely by my husband and children... those who know my quirks the best and love me in spite of them.

I disappointed my in-laws by being a fervent Evangelical Christian and "taking my husband" away from the Lutheran denomination (little did they know he'd already left it at college). I disappointed my mother when I gave my life to Christ (she had been raised in a legalistic Christian home and thought I'd become like her family). I disappointed many Christian friends when I spent years working full time (even though that is what my husband desired) and I definitely disappointed many other Christians when I chose to come home full time.

I completely bewildered many Christian friends when we made the decision to take Christopher out of the public schools and teach him at home. Oh, my friends... only those who have walked that path can feel the firestorm of controversy that decision can bring among family and friends. I've been on all sides of the Mommy Wars.

Every devout Christian... man or woman... faces criticism from all sides because we are going against the flow of Society in the first place. Secondly, we criticize each other because we are unique in the place God has led us which will make us different by way of denomination, the way we "do Church", raise our children, choose to educate our children, the way we dress (or don't dress as with some women these days), the way we teach or preach, the books we read or don't read, ditto for movies and DVD's, TV or no TV, work outside the home or be led to stay at home full time... the various reasons we Christians can come against each other is practically infinite in the way you can take one or many roads these days.

I've often quoted the words my mentor (Edith) writes in many of her books... "If you expect perfection or nothing, you will always end up with nothing." That is definitely true of me. I can guarantee you without doubt, if you read Coffee Tea Books & Me long enough (and some of you have been with me all two years so far), I will disappoint you as I have some in backing a mother of five children in her quest to be Vice President. A woman I admire greatly who could have aborted a down syndrome child in utero and no one would have known about it... but she and her God.

I love the spirit of Tasha Tudor... the spunkiness of living life on her terms. When we receive our Social Security check this week, I'm going to purchase some oil for my oil lamps and use them from time to time... in her honor. I'll also look around my home and do some "tweaking" to make it cozy for the upcoming cool weather... by faith as it is 90 degrees here today!

I adore Edith Schaeffer and the way she and her family changed the lives of thousands upon thousands by welcoming people into their chalet, serving meals and tea to countless strangers and finding time to put pen to paper as her ponderings molded young women for decades. I would be a far less capable wife and mother without her. I'll pull one of her books off the shelf... many of which are now yellowed and stained with the snack I was enjoying while reading a particular section in the evening... and once again absorb her precious wisdom.

Each one of us must spend time in the Word and before our God who created us... who knew us before we were in our mother's womb. Only He can guide us and mold us to be the person we are to become and only Jesus can present us before the Father at the end of our journey without a spot or wrinkle (and in some of us... like me... that takes a lot of washing and ironing my friends).

We must listen to others, those who have shown wisdom to us through the years. In the presence of many counselors we learn. However, many voices will try to mold us into becoming who they believe we are to be... and do what they think we should do. It will be that way until we cross the Jordon and see Him on the other side. Choose this day Whom you will serve and to Whom you will listen, followed closely by those who know you best and love you most.

Then find men and women who have gone down that path before you... in the Bible, in books, those who are living and breathing... and learn from them but remember... only One has lived a perfect life and even He was crucified by those whom He offended by not being the person they thought He should be.