The Best Cup of Tea

I forget now where I saw it, but I know that it was in a recent publication. The statement should be shocking, but I fear that many would agree with it. The statement was, “the best cup of tea is the one made for you by someone else!”

It reminded me of a statement that appeared on a billboard near our home in Canada in 2004. The billboard read, “Now you can get restaurant quality at home!” That was a shock. It was not all that long ago that restaurants were claiming that their dishes were “home-made.” Now, people have such a low opinion of their own ability to cook that they want restaurant food at home. What is happening?

We are quickly becoming a society of consumers rather than producers. We expect to be served rather than to serve. We take pride in our ability to get others to do for us, instead of knowing the joy of preparing our own meals and the joy of serving others.

I do not mind drinking tea that someone else has brewed, but generally I prefer to do my own brewing. I like to put a little ginger root in my tea; and I like to cut the ginger with a knife that I made for myself. Store bought, ready-made stuff has its place; but I think it is good for us to do things for ourselves and for others. Christians above all people should resist this “let’s get someone else to do it for us” attitude. The best service is not the service someone else performs for us, but that which we do for others.

“But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28, ESV)

“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:35, ESV)