A cup of tea for one?

So - what do you do when your emotions are all over the place?
     On Monday, January 19 I started this blog with these words:
"I'm a little teapot..." No I'm not.
     I'm a person, a woman, a daughter, a sister, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, an employee, a minister.  Did you see the letters t e a p o t anywhere in my description of myself?
I didn't think so.
     It's just that right now I feel like if you tipped me over just a tad - everything would just come pouring out.
     I'm going to make a confession -
     For about the past I don't know how long lots of issues have been brewing - disappointment in people, fear of failure, insecurity in the workplace, a little bit of loneliness.
HUM - 
   When I was a little girl and right up to when my mother moved to Texas she always knew when I really needed a cup of tea.  I don't think my she knew about the necessity of a chocolate  biscuit.  I'm sure however that she was most adept at helping me solve things when we were sharing a cup of tea.
HUM
   I guess I'll have to make my own cup of tea.

   My friend, Diane, loves a good cup of tea.  She recently told me she's going to bring some better tea bags to my home.  My questions is "so what's wrong with Lipton?"  At any rate, as I have been grieving with Diane over the loss of her dear husband, John I have been drinking more tea.  Last week I even painted a little tray and added an old teapot and one of my mother's wedding china cups.  It just seemed like a fitting way to honor my friend in her early days of grief.

   I was watching Downton Abbey, where tea time has so much value.  I loved it when the new possibility for romance dropped by to say hello to Tom and we heard him say "I was just about to have a cup of tea".
     When I wrote those words that afternoon, I was having a nasty day.  Nothing felt right.  I even had a thought that I wish my mother were here to make me a cup of tea.  Instead I kept thinking and praying and hoping that I was going to snap out of it.  And I did what Huffinghams (my grandma Lonnie, my daddy, my brother, Lester) are known to do - I went to bed.  I thought I should just "sleep on it".
     And the next day I posted the picture of the little tea tray I had created and got so many nice comments that I decided to use that as my Facebook cover page for a while.  
     My friend, Doris, asked a question - "a cup of tea for one"? When I put the tea tray together, I wanted to use the only cup I have left from my mother's wedding china...and these days - it is a cup of tea for one -  unless you come for a visit and I'll find another cup.
     Thursday, January 22 - I was once more stressed about a situation.  I was the teapot!
     But I asked for help.  My friend, Sarah gave me a solution - and within two hours that problem was solved and I asked myself this question  - Will I ever learn?




 

Thorns on the rose bush

   Most people know the origin of the name of this blog - Sunshine and Shadows. 
   This is the quote that the Englewood High School annual staff chose for me in the 1965 Golden Fleece,
                "She meets her trials with a smile and the shadows turn to light".
   I have often said that those words were prophetic.  Lots of shadows - needed lots of smiles.
   But no more me than anyone else - really.
   I was thinking about 2014 and all the wonderful things that happened to me - all the opportunities I had to smile.
   There was my work - from planning the annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida to writing for Beson 4 publications to working on a Caregiver Expo for Community Hospice. I had lots of challenging and exciting experiences. 
   There was my service to Christ - especially as a Lay Eucharistic Minister, assisting in the administration of Holy Communion and visiting those who cannot come to a worship service, sharing communion and God's peace and love.
   There was my family - being the notary who married my niece Lacie to the love of her life, Keith Belton, spending great time with my children and grandchildren and watching them grow in their spiritual lives as well as physically.
   There were friends - a cruise with my friend Deborah Hansen,  lots of coffee and lunch dates with a whole passal of other friends.
   Everything was just rosie!
   But the year was not without thorns.
   Our family suffered a devastating loss when my great niece, Blakelie was suddenly snatched from us.  I'll never forget my sister, Cindy's text - "She is with Jesus".
   My friend, Doreen Egeln, one of the persons I had ministered to as a Pastoral Visitor, lost her valiant battle with colon cancer;  my friend, John Gates is undergoing treatment for Leukemia, my aunt Gloria fell and broke her hip and on December 18 I had an automobile accident.
   Thankfully no one was hurt - both cars were totaled, however and my self confidence has been dealt a huge blow.
   The memory of those experiences begged a question - why do roses have thorns?
   What did we do before the magic of GOOGLE?  The thorns on the rose bush are a defense mechanism (according to Nature Center Magazine).  Without the thorns, the roses wouldn't last very long. 
   And now it's 2015.  There will be roses - opportunities to work and play, serve and learn. There will be beauty, joy, happiness. Life will be sweet.  There will also be thorns - a piercing pain that is far greater than the prick of a thorn will bring with it the paralysis of emotions.
    I can only pray that I will know those thorns have a purpose!  And that I will know - there is sunshine - even when there are shadows.