Tea and Time

I stink at living in time.  I despise schedules and routines.  I love phrases like: We were made for eternity and that's why we struggle so much to live in the present moment.  Ahh, yes, the present moment . . . complete with all the little disasters that can occur in a moment with a little boy who loves you and depends on your for just about everything.  And so I like to escape.  Sometimes my escape is mental wandering as a try to "hurry to sleep" before another midnight nursing.  Sometimes my escape is extra chocolate or wine or whatever other sweet or salty carb is within reach.  Sometimes my escape is doing useless things online in that wonderful web of something-outside-the-house that can seem so appealing.  And sometimes I remember to stop escaping.

True leisure should not be detrimental to my relationships, health, or holiness.  However, I'm simply not capable of running 24/7 without a break just because I'm also running away from all of my bad leisure habits.  Enter teapot.

Tea, that wonderfully comforting heirloom of liquid warmth, has been a symbol of true leisure for hundreds of years with good cause.  It takes time to boil and steep and sip.  And time to step away from the desperate current of my life is exactly what the doctor (and God) ordered for my sanity.  This Christmas and New Year's, I made a rather broad resolution--I was going to seek to transform my life and the culture and lives around me through taking time from my slavery to time.  I was going to sip tea while I played with my son after school--that way I felt like I was relaxing, but I wasn't escaping the little man who needed some calm attention to help him wind down after a busy day.  When I noticed my husband and I having too many unfinished conversations or getting over-tired and harried, I would grab two tea-cups and invite him to have some snuggle and talk time on the couch after the baby went down for the night.  When I was tempted to distract my thoughts with more useless information from the internet, I would sip tea and read my Bible or a spiritual reflection book instead--focusing my thoughts and enabling me to re-approach life with a proper perspective.  When I felt lonely, I would invite a friend or family member to tea, instead of casting out messages on facebook, hoping to catch some cursory attention.

How has it worked?  Well.  I've had more authentic conversations, focused prayer and reading, and peaceful wind-down time with my son.  I'm having tea every Wednesday in my Shakespeare elective with my students as we pour over the masterfully woven phrases of truth and wisdom.  They said today that our little ritual is making it their favorite class.

Which brings up another point . . . I said that I dislike routine and schedules, but I love rituals.  I treasure those familiar actions that involve the participants in a sweeping tide of historical meaning and cultural richness.  I think that adding little rituals that promote authentic leisure in our lives are essential tools in our quest to build up a culture of life.  When you take time to reorient yourself and to spend time giving yourself to others in genuine interactions, then you are affirming the value and dignity of human life.  It is only by ignoring our fellow man and becoming wrapped in an ego-centric worldview that we can possibly reach the insane insensitivity to our fellow human beings that we witness in our world today.

Take out your favorite mug or tea cup and brew yourself a "time out" for sanity's sake.  Give yourself a chance to appreciate the relationships, the home, and the world, which we work so hard to maintain and foster.  Otherwise, we'll fall into the classic American trap of becoming "human-doings" rather than "human beings," and we'll forget to live in our struggle to merely survive.