I have never met a hot tea I didn’t like. Black, green, white, leaf, herbal—I love them all, especially in the early morning next to my Bible. I’ve learned something about hot tea. It tastes better steeped, not dipped. Until that tea bag hits the hot water and allowed to sit there quietly (I prefer to cover my cup while steeping for richer flavor), it benefits me zero. I’ve come to the conclusion that a dipper is not a serious hot tea connoisseur. He or she is trying to hurry the process and is possibly distracted. To steep is to dwell.
Steeping allows the water to take on the flavor, aroma, and color of the tea. I steep tea longer, and sometimes even squeeze the tea bag, when I desire a stronger, bolder, richer flavor. Add a little local honey, and it’s pure sweet deliciousness.
Until I immerse the tea bag into a cup of hot water and allow steeping time, I will never know how good it tastes or reap its delightful benefits. Likewise, until I pick up my Bible from its home on my end-table and proceed to open, read, and imbibe, it serves no purpose other than decorating my end-table and collecting dust. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). “But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content” (Psalm 131:2).
I savor the flavor of a good cup of hot tea while feasting on God’s Word. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). “They [His Words] are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10).
I breathe in its tantalizing aroma, and Jesus Christ breathes on me. “And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (John 20:22). He is my holy Comforter.
The tea bag permeates the hot water, transforming it. God’s Word changes me, and I begin to look more like Jesus. “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). “But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
So each morning I drink my hot tea as I drink from the well of living water until I am totally infused (I did not say confused!). Good to the last drop! Oooops! That’s from an old coffee commercial.
Be a steeper, not a dipper. Take time to dwell in His presence today and experience Jesus Christ in all His fullness. “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly” (Col. 3:16).