The missing ingredient

I dream of the day that I might visit places like Darjeeling and look at the Himalayas in the background.  A friend of mine was there last year and I requested he bring back some tea and that he did.  I have been enjoying it since, but yesterday I added something to it that took it to a whole new level.  

I ordered a large quantity of dried osmanthus blossoms from Malaysia and blended just the right amount with the the delicate tea; the result is a fragrant, light, tea that, with a small amount of sweetener, takes me to the mental vistas of the Himalayas.

The beauty of these majestic mountains is breathtaking from the photos I've seen, but this place like others has its normality, its everyday life that is often less attractive and can be breathtaking in the opposite way.  Tea can be like that, taste differing greatly from the smell or appearance; life can be as well.

Our dress, our car(s), our home(s), our grooming, can make our outward appearance possibly 'breathtaking', but down under, our life may be more like the ghetto than Park Avenue.  Day in and day out, we work hard to live a lie; the chasm being what is verses what we want people to believe or think of us.  We mortgage our life away buying cars, homes, boats, etc. so our appearance and pleasure is taken care of while we struggle behind the doors to pay what is on credit which requires us to then place our dependence on our employment. 


We have seen the devastation in our country with loss of value in homes, loss of jobs, and loss of position.  I don't wish this on anyone and for those that were living within their means it is like being hit by a hurricane that you have no control over.  For others, their houses and lives were built on sand.

Jesus gave a sermon on a hill or mount overlooking the Sea of Galilee that taught the world many things, but as He closed his talk He ended this way:  ""Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand . The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.""  Matthew 7:24-27 NIV

In this passage of Matthew's gospel, chapters 5-7, a life that is full, honest, and valuable is taught.  Like any lesson, it sometimes means we will fail when attempting the first time and as for our life lessons, we will most certainly fail without supernatural help to overcome the nature that we have been cursed with as human ("to err is human...")

The tea was good before and with the blossoms, it is great; the mountains in the background makes a nice place magnificent.  A life lived may appear good, but a life redeemed by the God of the universe through Christ is the most beautiful transformed thing of beauty that you will ever experience.