Sunday Afternoon Tea

Come join me for a cup of tea out on the deck. We'll go out early this morning before the heat and humidity sets in and share peppermint tea. I may set apart just a wee bit so my germs don't reach out and touch...

I've been pondering while on the sofa these past few days, thinking of the way life is and the way most of us want life to be. Obviously the temporary setback of illness has affected my thoughts but so has watching the news while laying on the sofa. It seems there are so many sad and worried people today.

Most in the world have no anchor to sustain them and no map to provide an idea of where they are going or where they have been. They have been taught the Words in the Bible mean nothing in today's world and there is no Due North. They don't understand those who find hope and peace in the words of a Book.

We all have within us a sense of longing. We look at the beauty in our gardens and wonder at the day when there will be no weeds or disease. We read of places we would love to visit, those which seem especially dear even though we have never been there... and wonder what life would be like if we were not finite beings held down by the physics of space and time. Somehow sensing a longing for another Place.

Those of us who have lived a number of years wake up each morning to another ache and pain and wish for health while another thinks of one who has passed on and longs for their face across the breakfast table. Yet, another couple have a desire for a full nursery while they continue to be a family of two.

Father's Day always brings memories of Dad and the knowledge (having been told by others) that I'm very much like him. I sometimes wonder what life would have been like if my father had not passed away so young, or if my first child had lived. Longings of what might have been but peace on the road which had been chosen for I believe the Words.

Only those who read and believe the Book understand the longings. He says we have Eternity in our hearts. He knows we long for the perfection lost in Eden. He talked about those who walked through life having never received the promise on this side... searching for the City whose builder and architect is God.

It is not unusual for us to long for a life more perfect or a road not taken. It isn't wrong for us to look back and grieve our losses. Where we get into trouble is when longing turns to coveting and grief becomes bitterness.

I truly believe within us God is leading and guiding as we walk the path He has set before us. We just have to listen and read His Words to understand why we think the way we do... and why He has set eternity in our hearts.