Author: Rebecca McDonald, President & Founder
June 2022

TEA FOR TWO

A Nurturing Ritual: There’s a deep joy in the ritual of tea. Tea is romantic, filled with renewal, and meant for reflection and nurturing. Each cup tells a story. Sipping tea is drinking in the gift of creation and makes us pause and linger on life. To paraphrase from The Way of Tea and Justice, tea provides a tasty lens to find a moment of quiet sanctuary. Tea never talks back and is a faithful friend. The simplicity of tea calls you to slow down, pay attention, and listen.

Nurture Those You Love: So let’s try together! Lift your cup, slow down, and listen. Whisper encouragement to those you love – your spouse, your children, a friend, a mom…you choose who needs to be loved on. Sit with them. Offer them a cup of tea. Listen to their delights of life and their struggles with it. Just listen. Listening has this renewing power that nurtures others. It sends a message that they are important, strong, loved, wonderful, courageous…A beautiful ritual, tea time sets aside the busyness and puts focus on the ones we love.

Nurture Each Other: Set a tiny table for you and your grands, spouse, or loved one. Have your own tea party. Beloved by the British Empire who took it globally, I grew up “taking tea” at a boarding school in Pakistan. The day I had a girl after three boys, I shunned mugs. My baby girl and I daily drank from my grandma’s teacups – her, milk and me, coffee – lying under the lilacs in the woodlands of the Appalachian Mountains. Today only the fanciest hotels offer high teas. You can do it at home, keeping it simple and fun. Simple is still fun.

Nurture Yourself, Your Thoughts, and Dreams: Tea connects us, but alone, it makes us stop and nurture ourselves amid the craziness of life. When overwhelmed by my day, the brokenness of those we lift, or just the sheer volume of work before me…I take a five-minute tea break. I sit in a chair with a cup of tea and tell the world, “For five minutes, the world is okay!” I let my mind wander and dream of big, God-sized plans for the WAR world. When I finish my tea, I feel a little refreshed and am charged to take on everything again.
So, WARriors! Nurture yourself, nurture your loved ones, and nurture your community. Raise a cup of tea and let’s dream together. Let’s nurture lives that are broken and seek love one cup of tea and one handcrafted piece at a time!

For further calm and loveliness, peruse and shop WAR Chest Boutique’s Tea For Two Lookbook