My Mother’s Ice Tea: Infused with Joy

Daily Post: Tea

This title may seem familiar to you. With the exception of the last word, I used this title back in May when the word of the day was “infuse.”  In that article I wrote about Grace.  I wrote about my dad and how the ice tea debacle became a teaching moment in my early childhood days.  Today the temperature in Flower Mound, Texas, is supposed to be around 100 degrees and the heat index is higher than that by 5 to 10 degrees.  Days’ like this always bring me back to fond memories of my mother’s ice tea.

First of all, so as not to confuse anyone, when I speak of ice tea, this means: “sweet” iced tea,; brewed then poured over Imperial pure cain sugar (which is only 15 calories a teaspoon, non-GMO, and glutten free) and stuffed into the refrigerator to steep.  After the tea is appropriately chilled, and only then, ice is added to the pitcher to enhance the coldness.  Filling a mason jar with ice, pouring the tea into the jar, is for me… pure joy.  Each time I order tea in a restaurant that even comes close to tasting like my mom’s ice tea, joy again spreads through my being as I remember her presence again.  What I wouldn’t give for one more pitcher of my mother’s sweet ice tea!

Perhaps on some level what I have left of her is far better than this delightfully delicious drink.  Like you, for me life sort of blurs together over the years, and what we hold on to most of the time, are the positive/happy moments of our past.  Clearly I’ve done this over the years, because I’m not oblivious to all those tense or awkward times with my mother as I tried to survive childhood and young adulthood in the 50’s to the early 70’s.   There were some tough times, but they are long since historical blurs, and not as vivid in my brain as the face of my mother, laughing, joking, smiling and loving her family.  I’m sure my three sisters would say, “mom always liked you best.”  I’m not sure it’s true, but then again, I’ve been wrong in the past, so I could be wrong about this.

My memories of mom are from two rooms in our home, the kitchen and “her” chair in the living room.  Making tea was just a part of what she did in that kitchen, preparing meals for her family, demonstrating her love for us in those tasty treats.  But the memory I have of mom in her chair are still vivid for the joy of conversation.  Mom and I used to have discussions on Scriptures from the Bible that lasted for hours.  Most of these happened during my college days in the early 1970’s when I would come home for a weekend.  She would be studying her Sunday School lesson for the coming week and we would sit together discussing the passage to be studied.  It’s exhilarating even now, and joy spreads across my face even as I write this, remembering the pleasure and thrill of those discussions.

When I think of ice tea, or when I drink something close to what I remember, in each event God’s Spirit brings me joy through the words of Solomon in Proverbs 31, describing the godly woman.

Proverbs 31:25-28
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.  She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.  Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her.

I often think my mother’s sweet ice tea was infused with her joy, in just being who God created her to be!

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