I know what you're thinking...what do teabags have to do with Christianity? My mind has a tendency to take journeys sometimes and occasionally the journey turns out to be one that actually leads somewhere! I am inviting you along on one particular trip that I took recently.
Every morning while I do my devotions, I make myself a cup of hot tea. And every morning I keep the teabag in the cup until it gets to the strength I want my tea to be. The other morning, as I watched the tea swirl around and darken the water, it occurred to me that Christianity is alot like that teabag. The minute it hits the water, it begins to change everything around it. And the hotter the water, the faster it changes.
As Christians, we have the ability to change everyone and everything around us. How we respond to challenges, how we deal with others, how we react to life's little annoyances, all affects those around us. And it seems that the hotter the issue, the faster we see things change, either for the better or for the worse. If I respond to someone in a grumpy way, the chances are extremely good that I will get grumpiness right back. And the thing about a teabag is that once it has changed the water, it can never go back to being a cup of plain water. So it is with our responses. Once we've let the negative out of our mouths, it can't be put back in, no matter how many times we say we are sorry or how badly we feel about saying it in the first place.
On the flip side of that, when we do something kind for someone, give out some encouraging words, take a little extra time to help someone, there is a ripple affect that can end up affecting everyone around us. As I watched my cup of hot water slowly turn to a deep shade of brown, I was reminded that I have the choice every day to change my own little piece of the world. And I have the choice to make changes that will allow others to see Jesus in me or not.
Tea anyone?
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