What I have been learning.

It begins with a rocking chair and tea.

Tea in a cup, hand crafted by the humble hands of a human. A human broken in a broken world. Unending pain, anger, confusion. Yet even amongst the broken, shattered pieces of this world joy is found. Joy is found while shaping a vessel of clay. A cup is shaped, which holds the fine perfection of tea. Tea that is sipped by me as I contemplate life from a rocking chair.

Five things to think on. Five things to comtemplate as I look out at big sky country. The mountain range of perfection. Why am I here? Why has God placed me here? In it I must be gentle, humble, and quiet. Listening is the key to the art of quietness. Here in this place I listen. I approach with gentleness and desire to hear. To hear the stories of broken people. I too listen for the voice of the Creator who shaped each triangle, each misshaped mountain. Among it all I pray for peace, discernment, for time. I pray among people. I pray alone. Praying for the brokenness of the Rez, the people I've encountered. And selfishly I pray for me, for my brokenness. I seek. Oh how I seek. In patience, I have received. And I've found peace in my quietness. Last, I remember that the shadow proves the sunshine. The trials of the beginning weeks. The baggage, the fear, the confusion, the uncertainty. How those trials have illuminated the greatness of the Creator. To go to the mountains, to seek our Creator. How I've grown. I find myself broken as all humans are. But I find hope in a Creator who has shaped the sky, the mountains, and me.

Tea in a new way

For the past two weeks I have been drinking tea in a new way: smoothie form. It is just like being back up in MQT and sipping away on a smoothie from Smoothie King. Only, this isn't any plain jane strawberry banana smoothie. My smoothie: a Matcha smoothie.

A couple weekends ago I ventured out and went to a "Tea Cupping" class at Light of Day Organics in Traverse City. It was a pure delight. One of the best classes I have been to in a long time. (More to come on the delights of this class in a later post). For now the focus is Matcha. 

Matcha is:

"the oldest and most premium variety of green tea in Japan- the mother of all green tea! For over 800 years, Zen Buddhist monks have been using Matcha green tea as a meditational drink. Matcha is very exquisite; only a few dozen tea farmers in Japan own the extensive knowledge required to produce this tea. Matcha tea leaves grow slowly in shaded tea plantations. The fresh leaves are primarily handpicked, dried and ground by low friction granite stone mills into an ultra fine, jade green powder, and finally whisked traditionally with a bamboo whisk or can be prepared in a smoothie. The result is a unique, creamy velvet, full-bodied cup of premium green tea- extremely high in antioxidants, amino acids and other nutrients." 

To sum it all up Matcha is healthy. Very healthy.

In it all I decided to kick start a new lifestyle: a healthier, more productive, happier one. The Monday after returning home from a vacation I rolled out of bed at 5:30am. I spent the next hour of my morning on a bike ride, riding down to Holland State Park and beginning my morning alongside the lapping shore of Lake Michigan. Once I returned home I ate breakfast, jumped in the shower, and then enjoyed a cup of Chamomile tea all before 8am. By mid-morning I had scratched off half of the things on my to-do list.

I remember sitting outside that morning with my freshly made Matcha smoothie thinking to myself, "what a day it is going to be!"

Matcha Smoothie Recipe
In a blender blend:
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup coconut milk or almond milk
1 banana (or fruit of your choice)
1/2 tsp. matcha powder (purchased at http://lightofdayorganics.com/).

Thanks to Light of Day Organics.

Tea, tea, and more tea

I have been attempting to post everyday this week. And while I have a couple posts in progress none are quite ready for their reveal. So I thought I would post a photograph. A photograph of all the tea we purchased while Up North. I have tried almost all of them (minus Sunday Morning, which I am waiting to make until Sunday morning, just for kicks).

All I can say is that spending those 10 days Up North visiting different tea shops, trying different teas, and learning more about tea increased my desire even more for a tea shop someday. Although that someday is a far ways off, I (with fingers-crossed) have a few possible "tea training" internships for next summer. 

Spilled Tea

A couple weeks ago I wrote this down: "My sheets are  now officially loved, as I just spilled tea all over them".

Tonight this simple phrase inspired the photographer in me.

Yet, it also got me thinking. 

So often we are focused on having everything perfect. That night I spilled tea on my sheets I could have reacted in one of two ways. One, I could have gotten all upset, stripped my sheets off my bed and thrown them in the wash. Second, I could have shrugged it off, and trusted that my sheets would now have the sweet smell of Caramel tea. 

I chose the second. Life is meant to be lived. Living in the little things. Each reaction, each moment of life is set my your attitude. Think on this, the next time you spill tea all over your sheets, how are you going to react? 

A Toast to Tea

There are a number of things I love. One of them: tea. It is simple: I love tea. It all began with one cup of chamomile in the marketplace of Northern Michigan University. For someone who use to hate hot drinks, I now declare myself an addict. It was love from the first sip.

But to me tea has become more than just a drink. It has enveloped my life. It has been there through the ups and downs. The hopeless romance, the burdened week of finals, time spent home, the accident, and new beginnings.

I sit here with a toast to new beginnings. I toast to a cup of tea.