The Tea Party | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: The Tea Party | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Bonney
09/03/14
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Religion was new to me back then. I hadn’t had much use for it before, and wasn’t sure God wanted anything to do with me. I figured church and the Bible and prayer was for a select few, but not for the likes of me.

Then I reconnected with an old high school friend, Agnes Foley, at our 20-year high school class reunion. She had a glow about her that I hadn’t remembered from our school days. Her silvery laugh was the same, though it seemed to have a richer quality to it, kind of like the whipped cream topping on a piece of Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

Agnes invited me to a ladies festival at her church, a social get-together of sorts that included a craft show of their homemade treasures. Fancy needlework was on display for sale, embroidered lacy dresser scarves, knitted and crocheted baby afghans, elaborate quilts—even painstakingly arranged floral wreaths and beautifully crafted centerpieces. In the back, hand-painted china and pottery pieces had their own tables.

I was immediately drawn to the dishes section where fine bone china pieces were neatly arranged on holders and easels. My mother had recently passed away, and I had inherited her collection of cup and saucer sets. I occasionally added my own selections to her mix, each one holding a nostalgic memory as unique as my siblings’ personality traits. I chose a pattern of intricately painted pansies on a medium-sized cup, my favorite flower, that was drawn in minute detail in shades of violet and pink. The matching saucer was adorned with swirls of curly-q’s around its rim in the same color scheme. Little did I know at the time, what a significant part of my life that day’s purchase would become.

In the weeks that followed, I trailed after Agnes like a toddler hanging on to her mother’s apron strings. I even accompanied her to a women’s weekly Bible Study, hearing amazing stories and lessons. I didn’t own the Book myself, so was given one by the hostess as a parting gift at the final meeting. I placed it on the buffet next to the pansy cup and saucer on Mother’s handmade doily; it blended into the background of the wallpaper behind it, even as the memories of my mother faded to the back seat of my mind.

I was tentative about attending a church service with Agnes the first couple of times, but everyone was kind and welcoming and I felt less threatened each week. I learned that Jesus loves ME, an incredible discovery. I turned over my life to Him on Easter Sunday. What a difference it all made!

Pastor Skyles said that, as a Christian, I should read the Bible and pray every day. Slowly, I found that praying was more than just asking for things. It was also a friendship—a relationship building between Jesus and me. Often, I felt at a loss to know how to pray, treading water up to my neck to stay connected to God. So I asked Agnes to teach me.

“Oh, Kristie, you just talk to him as you would to anyone else. I sit in my ‘prayer chair’ next to an empty folding chair and invite Jesus to sit beside me and picture Him there and that helps me to focus.”

Well, that gave me an idea. The next time I took the Bible off the buffet to have my “devotions”, I also brought that cup and saucer to my dining room table and set it across from me. I brought my own cup and saucer from the kitchen cupboard and filled it with steaming chamomile tea. Then I asked Christ to sit with me as we visited.

It sounds a little weird, maybe, but this continues to work for me. I imagine Him sitting at the head of my table. I read from His Word and talk to Him from the eyes of my heart; like a child learning to walk, I tiptoe into the light He has given me, one step at a time.

When my friends come over for a meal and ask about the pansy cup and saucer that isn’t with the others in the curio cabinet, I tell them how it is reserved for Jesus—on the buffet next to my Bible on Mother’s handmade lace doily.

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