“The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)
I slipped down into a bit of a rabbit hole just now.
As a connoisseur of fresh coffee (pronounced cah-noy’-zer in my weird world), I remember the first time I encountered coffee in tea bags in college. “Of course!” I exclaimed under my breath. “It makes total sense! Tea works with tea bags. Why hadn’t I thought about it with my favorite grounds?” Surely, such a thing must exist. So, I began my search for the Holy Grail of personal coffee service.
Alas, my search was difficult and fruitless. (Pre-internet and no Amazon.com.) There just weren’t any suppliers that I could locate. Not even through local grocery stores. It seems that while tea people are oriented toward cups, coffee people favor pots. Lots and lots of pots.
Not like that’s a bad thing, mind you.
But the idea of brewing up just one fresh, hot, solitary, single-serve created cuppa Joe to have on my work desk seemed so comforting, so homey, so delightful.
But alas, no success. I had to settle for the ol’ French press. The first cup was a zinger, but then I always had to reheat the ugly stepsister second cup in the microwave. The Melita coffee filter was a great step, but the same great first cup and a whole lot of ugly stepsisters to follow.
It seemed the tea drinkers were one-upping over the coffee drinkers until the idea of a one-cup brew pot hit the market. The latest incarnation of those is the Keurig machine.
I was saved.
But then I realized I don’t drink only one cup of coffee while working. Even when I skip over to my local coffee shop (The Brick Coffee & Bar on 5th Avenue in Naples, FL) or Panera Bread near my house, I always have more than one serving. Yeah, Panera isn’t gourmet-level caffeine, but at least it’s not mud-level corporate “coffee” like Char-Yucks, Over-Done-Brothers, or Charibrew. (You figure out who I’m talking about.)
Still, I was fascinated by the idea of a coffee tea bag steeping in a cup of near-rolling-boil water. Why should the tea drinkers have all the fun? Oh well, at least I have my French press and Melita filter system.
I was thinking recently how delightful the whole coffee-in-a-tea bag thing would be as I covered a friend’s pool-cleaning route one morning. Despite being a typically beautiful, hot n’ humid Florida day, I was feeling down.
I had been feeling spiritually dry of late. Really dry. Unsteeped tea leaves dry or unbrewed coffee grounds dry. You pick. Even though I had been reading my Bible, talking at (not with, mind you, and not even to) the Lord, and addressing things in my life that could have been detuning my communion with the Lord, nothing seemed to work. I couldn’t write my blog. I just couldn’t produce anything. I had some thoughts, but I had zip for inspiration. All of my High Beam Ministry work seemed plodding and dull.
And so, I got honest with the Lord about it, and the Holy Spirit instantly flashed a picture into my mind. It was of a teabag being lowered into a cup of hot water. As it dipped below the surface, the water interacted with the dried leaves, causing them to swell and release the aroma, flavor, and color into the clear liquid. I’ve always enjoyed watching that tea/hot water interaction as the tawny lines swirl around and around until a swishing spoon spoils the picture. And the longer the tea remains steeping, the more intense the tea/water communion results become.
At that moment, the Spirit made His point.
My problem was simple. I had “done my spiritual duties” of reading the Bible and talking to the Lord (again, not conversing, just yakking), but I hadn’t sat and steeped in the Lord’s presence. Yes, I know. The Holy Spirit’s presence is always inside of us. Thank you, dear theologian. But as Jesus’ disciples, we must learn to sit and rest with a mindful awareness of His promised and assured presence. That’s what I mean about steeping in the Lord’s presence.
Following the Holy Spirit’s tea time metaphor, the “hot water in the cup” is Himself and His warm, active presence. The teabag (myself) is filled with scriptures, teachings, thoughts, and experiences gathered throughout my life. But apart from the Spirit, much of that stuff sits in me like dead, dry leaves in the teabag awaiting hot water’s touch. But when submerged – boy, oh boy – my cup runneth over with delight.
So, that’s what I did. Even though I felt desert-dry, I sat quietly in my car and focused on the Lord. For those of you who have practiced Christian meditation (focusing on God and His word, not on nothing like the Eastern religions do), this is called “centering.” It’s not a big mystical deal. You focus your attention on the Lord and His presence within you. That’s when the spiritual steeping starts. And like a teabag, the aroma, flavor, and color begin to flow when the hot water of the Spirit soaks all that stuff in you.
The longer we steep in His active presence, the hotter and more energized we become spiritually. The more spiritually energized we are, the more inspiration fills us. And the more the Spirit’s inspiration fills us, the more we begin to release the aroma of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:14), the flavor of God pours forth (Psalm 34:8), and color returns to our dull, drab, colorless spiritual lives.
Voila! A hot cup of spiritual renewal.
This recent insight reminds me of Mary and Martha in Luke 10. The two sisters lived with their brother, Lazarus, of raised from the dead fame (John 11). When Jesus arrived with His disciples for a visit, Martha leaped into action, offering the traditional hospitality ingrained in the day’s Jewish culture. She was focused on the work and was “distracted by her many tasks” (Luke 10:40). On the other hand, her sister, Mary, “sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said” (Luke 10:39). Guess which sister was “steeping” in the Lord’s presence.
Yup. Mary.
When Marta complained about Mary just sitting around when she could be helping with the tea and coffee service, Jesus gave Mary, not Martha, the big commendation. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42, italics mine).
What was that one choice that wouldn’t be taken away from Mary? She chose to sit and steep with Jesus.
We have many opportunities every moment of every day, distracting us unto dryness. But it’s that one choice that’s best for us: sitting with the Lord, steeping in His presence, and soaking in His word. No distractions. Just quietly soaking away.
I find so much of life filled with distractions that dry me out spiritually. I get to the end of the day and wonder what impact I made for the Lord. Sometimes, it doesn’t seem to be very much, if anything at all.
But when I come to my senses and realize I’m dry, I know I need to take time to steep. Then, the godly stuff starts flowing out of me. I’m motivated to do the work of the Lord with my eye on the Lord of the work. The best part is the spiritual dryness fades as the Living Water of the Spirit infuses me more and more.
Don’t despair or give up the next time you feel distant from God and dry as tea leaves or coffee grounds. You probably need some “steepin’ time” with the Holy Spirit.
May your cup runneth over, too.
Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead
Pastor Jay Christianson
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts
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