A Flow-Through Tea Bag

I sometimes think of myself as a flow-through teabag, soaking in the warmth of sons and daughters and allowing that relationship to produce a stimulating brew that gives love and lift to family life. Looking from my vantage point, watching young people climb reminds me that I am - whether I want to be or not - an example. What a privilege! As older women pass from the scene, I become the leader of the line, the embodiment of what God wants for my daughters, my daughters-in-love, nieces, and granddaughters. What am I saying to them? God has clearly issued my orders:

Older women likewise are to reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good . . . encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored (Titus 2:3-5).

-- Jeanne Hendricks, Afternoon - For Women at the Heart of Life