Making Sweet Tea and Observations

I like sweet tea.  No I am not from the South.
Glad that is out in the open!
I have been in the office all day prepping for Sunday, cleaning up my desk, tying off all the loose ends for this weekend and getting graphics ready for next weekend... which just reminded me of another thing I need to do!

So I am a little tired after the trip to Emporia last night to listen to my son, Trevor's, last Jazz Band concert of his freshman year at Emporia State University.  I need a little pick me up so I brewed some tea and in preparation for the hot elixir I dumped some sugar in the bottom of the gallon canister I keep it in.  When the tea was ready I poured it in and noticed something interesting.  The very hot tea which easily melted the sugar hadn't got to the bottom of the pitcher.

When I poured the hot tea in it melted a layer of the sugar on top which became like a sweet shield that kept the hot tea on top and let the rest of the sugar underneath intact.  I had to actually get a large spoon and puncture that shell in order to let the hot tea completely mix with the rest of the sugar so that it liquefied and and became "part" of the tea.

While sitting here I have been thinking about that sugar and how it protected itself from the hot tea.  I think I have acted like that sugar.  When presented with an "opponent" that threatens to destroy me I form a shield.  I let just enough of me get exposed so that the shell hardens and protects what is underneath.  I think I do that in my Spiritual walk too.  I have been burned by people, by trust, by my faith.

The problem is that this shell I have formed keeps me from becoming something better.  I insulate my self from the heat and then also from growth.  James 1 says that trials actually produce something good in us.  Like sweet tea, if I don't let the heat in I'm no good!  When the heat comes and I embrace it I can become something better than I would have without it.

So here's to a BIG cup of sweet tea and a little personal growth to boot.