Tomboys Don't Drink Tea Out Of Dainty Cups:
Last summer (June 21, 2019 to be exact) I got this crazy notion that I needed to have a tea party. I guess I was so busy being a tomboy when I was a child that I just never even considered a tea party then. My momma did give me a tiny -TINY- little cup that she used to pretend to drink tea from when she was a little girl, but I didn't really see any need unless that cup could hold enough water to quench a thirst. There were just too many other outside adventures to hold my interest. What tomboy had time for a tea party anyhow?
(This has absolutely nothing to do with a tea party, but if you're gonna REALLY know me, then you've gotta know this. I was probably 5 or 6 and was playing ghost in our tiny kitchen. I had a red striped cotton housecoat over my head, which was completely convincing ghost attire. (Yes, I do remember what I was wearing. Boiling hot water will sear things into your young brain, as you will see in the next couple of sentences.) There was just one problem with the red striped housecoat over my head - I couldn't see where I was going and ran into the kitchen stove where my momma was boiling water for TEA. (At least this tidbit is kinda about tea.) That entire pot of boiling water spilled over on me, starting with my head and going all the way to my toes. Thankfully my guardian angel already had 5 or 6 years of heavy duty experience with a rambunctious child, and the boiling water left no noticeable burns. I don't recall playing ghost ever again. And maybe that's why I wasn't interested then in a tea party.)
(Pardon me for interrupting your speculations about a crazy kid with a red striped cotton housecoat over her curly blond head whose guardian angel had just adverted a near-disaster, but we've gotta get back to the tea party issue.)
Y'all need to understand that my mind operates on the same mechanism that causes a squirrel to dart back and forth before it finally decides to cross the road. I don't even know what to think about those of you who can just wake up and make a decision. Oh my. So when I got this crazy notion for a tea party, my squirrel brain was all over the place. But I couldn't let that idea go. I'll spare you most of the details and let the following pictures speak the thousands of words I'm not gonna write.
We Started Out With A Bang:
As it turned out, I wasn't the only one with a tea party vision, and once I found my first like-minded friend (Reva), things pretty much just happened overnight. (But wait, there's more!!) From day one, Reva and I felt led to contact a mutual friend from out of town (Jennifer), hoping that she wouldn't think we were completely nuts; but what a coincidence - she ALSO has the same vision! And JUST THIS WEEK, a little over a year since our first ever Girls' Tribe Tea Party on 7/25/19, I have discovered another like-minded friend (Rosie) who also has had a vision for a tea party, and she, too, has had this idea since last year. Coincidences? I think not.
And when I say "vision", I mean that the four of us have had this unrelenting NEED to follow through with the tea party concept (or something similar). The four of us kinda think there may be more of you out there! So get ready!!
(We would love for our "vision" to spread. If you'd like more info about our tea party vision for your ladies/girls at your church, please feel free to message me! We would love to help!!!)
Chipped And Thick:
So I was telling Rosie just the other day about the logistics and all the "coincidences" of our first tea party. And then Rosie tells me that she, too, had combed flea markets relentlessly collecting tea cups and saucers. How did we not even run into each other? And how were there any left for her? I thought I had bought them all! Rosie said she didn't care if they matched or not; some of hers were even "chipped and thick".
In looking back over my yard sale collection of pretty teacups and saucers, all I focus on is their beauty and function. They served their purpose well. They looked pretty nice spread out over my table with the other pretties I had collected. But most of them had been "well loved" and had some tiny chips and discolorations; some of them weren't the delicate tea cups that the fancy people use - they were a little bit "thick".
Let's face it - we're not gonna get too far in this crazy life without a few chips. Years of emotional eating have led me to a level of thickness that weighs me down. (Pun intended.) But you know what? My chips and my thickness are part of my story, part of the story that God had in mind for me before I was ever born. Many of my chips represent too-many-to-count poor choices I made; some of my chips are from honest attempts at doing good that just didn't work out. Some of you reading this probably knew me when the choices I was making did not seem anywhere close to redeemable. I am profoundly sorry for those stupid crazy choices I made along the way. And those choices came with some heavy consequences. But my Heavenly Father has redeemed all my chips and my thickness and is ready to use these "flaws" for my story. (Thank God for my praying momma!) We all have our chips; we all have a story. Someone needs to hear our story. Our story for His glory!
(Let me just interject one thing here that I wish I had tattooed in big huge words across my forehead in ambulance style so I could be reminded every time I look in the mirror: We are ALWAYS a witness everywhere we go - either for the good or for the bad. Good consequences; bad consequences.)
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My Heavenly Father is right this very minute preparing a huge celebration for me, and you, and you, and you. I'm not sure if it will be a tea party or not ... but it could be. I do know that it doesn't matter to Him if we are "chipped" or "thick"; if we belong to Him, He's "worked it together for good". Redemption. Such a beautiful word!
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There's an old southern gospel song entitled "I'll Have A New Body"; this thick ol' gal can't wait for that! What a day, glorious day, that will be!
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"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28
An Afterthought:
Our tea parties stemmed from our desire for the adult ladies in our church to mentor the younger girls (the littles and the middles). This was to be our legacy. (Legacy was the theme for our first tea party at my house.) Little did we know that the adults would be learning so much more from our littles and middles!! What an awesome blessing!!
This picture represents a legacy left to me. The table covering (seen better in the above pictures) was a handmade quilt given to me by my mother-in-law as a wedding gift. The clear pedestal plate was given to me by my aunt as a wedding gift; my mother had given it to my aunt on her wedding day; my grandmother had given it to my mother. The Bible on the bottom was my mother-in-law's; mine is in the middle; the Bible on top was my mother's. The pearls (cheap plastic beads) were my mother's and she wore them almost every single day for as long as I can remember.
My most cherished legacy from some pretty amazing precious women in my life was their love for the Lord and their prayers for me. What better legacy to leave our littles and our middles!!