Fancy Dishes

Photo Credit:  mconnors from morgueFile.com

Last Saturday, I went to a Mother-Daughter Tea Party with my eight-year-old daughter.  In preparation for the event, she and I decorated wide-brimmed straw hats with flowers, ribbon, and a copious quantity of hot glue.  We made little peanut butter and jelly pocket sandwiches and bought some nail polish and lip gloss for Bingo prizes.  We also searched our cabinets for the perfect tea cups and saucers.

We don’t typically drink hot tea in fancy dishes over here, so this was sure to be a special treat.  When we drink tea, our norm is sweet tea with lots of ice…preferably the teeny tiny ice that makes it taste extra good.  It’s just ice, you say?  Many will beg to differ.  Just ask any Sonic-ice-lover.  But, I digress.

Let’s go back to the tea cups for a moment.  My daughter actually had a small purple and pink tea cup with her name on it that she had received as a party favor a few years ago.  She grabbed that one.  I opted to take a tea cup from my grandmother’s china set.  I opened the china cabinet and dusted off a lovely piece of tableware with delicate pink rosebuds and silver trim. 

I understood the risk in taking a vintage piece of fine china to a party with lots of little girls.  Gasp!  However, I was up for the challenge.  After all, it’s only a dish.  With my British accent on board and my pinkie raised…I WAS READY!

Over the years, I’ve learned that fancy dishes are meant to be used.  So, I encourage you to get them out and dust them off.  Today.  Not tomorrow.  Not next week.  Not next year.  Are we really promised tomorrow?  Or even the next hour?  Nope.  We’re not.

A friend of mine recently lost his dad in a sudden, tragic farming accident and I can’t stop thinking about and praying for that family.  It has been on my mind for days now.  My heart aches for all of those he left behind.

Father Bentil gave our parish family some wonderful words of wisdom to reflect upon following the man’s unexpected death.  In addition to words of consolation, he said, “Right now is the time.  Right now is the time to offer forgiveness and accept forgiveness.  Right now is the time to offer love and receive love.  Right now is the time to let go of anger.  Right now is the time to visit someone or write that letter.  There is no better time than right now.”

I could not agree more.  What ARE we waiting for?  Our tomorrow may never come.  Don’t we often spend countless hours and an endless amount of energy longing for what we don’t have?  It would certainly be a better use of our time to praise and thank God for the people and things that we DO have. 

Today is the perfect day to use your fancy dishes.  Here is a poem I wrote as I pondered all of this:

Use the fancy dishes,

Follow your dreams, hopes, and wishes.

Tomorrow is not a promised day,

Say right now what you want to say.

Love the ones God brings to you,

Don’t put off what you need to do.

Thank God for blessings, one by one,

A contented heart when day is done.

Don’t yearn for all you don’t possess,

Ungrateful hearts are quite the mess.

Let go of anger; it hurts you more,

Hate destroys you at the core.

God’s grace will help you to forgive,

The soul, then free to love and live.

Use the fancy dishes; life is short, my friends,

Imperfectly beautiful; we don’t know when it ends.

Thank you for taking the time to read and share my blog posts.  I appreciate you!  I was a tad late this week in getting my Sips of Sunshine to you, but I know you are oh so understanding.  With our summer schedule approaching, I also wanted to let you know that the Sips will be a bit more sporadic.  I will be enjoying some time with my family and friends.  I pray that you all have a safe, relaxing, fun-filled summer making oodles of memories…using your fancy dishes, of course!

Have a wonderful week, Sunshines!