Spilling Sweet Tea Giveaway!!!
Wednesday Update: Please forgive my lack of a new post here. (And if you haven’t commented on this one below to enter the giveaway, you still can ’til Friday morning at 6:00 a.m.) The story is I have come down with the coughin’, creepin’ crud and I am, unfortunately, severely allergic to cold medicine. So, I am spending quality time with my saline sinus rinse bottle, slathering on the Vicks and trying to get school done with my boys. Not much energy left for anything else.
However—tune back in Friday when we’ll have a guest post and a giveaway. I noticed when I asked a few weeks ago what your biggest procrastination project was, many of you said ‘scrapbooking’. So, since I have ZERO skill on that topic, I’ve asked my friend Heather Vanderlaan, the scrapbooking diva to hop on over and give out some tips—and offer a cool giveaway. See you then!
Also Note: If you are a Weight Loss Wednesday gal, please click here to locate our cyber accountability group now called His Weigh Wednesdays and lead by Lindsey Feldpausch.New comers always welcome! See ya over there! __________________________________________________________________________________
“A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” Luke 6:45 (NLT)
”She is a big-city Southern gal who just happened to be born in a tiny town in the Midwest.”
Those are the words I use to answer people who question why our 19-year-old daughter chose to move from our little Michigan village and take up residence in Charlotte, NC to attend cosmetology school. Ever the adventurous type, she opted for moving in with gracious friends and attending school where she knew no one over staying home and playing it safe at a nearby, salon school where girls she knew studied.
Ever since the first time Mackenzie traveled with me as a pre-teen to a speaking engagement in the south, she was hooked. She loved the food (especially Chic-Fil-A which we sadly don’t have in Michigan), the weather, the big hairstyles, (usually the weather results in the big hairstyles!) the ocean being nearby, and the regional accent (Yes, she now refers to our family as “ya’ll”). But most of all, Kenz couldn’t get enough sweet tea!
Today, when she is cruising around Charlotte in her tan 1999 Buick, she often has a glass of her beloved beverage nestled in her cup-holder. She can sip her tea at long red lights or while waiting in the carpool line to pick up the kids she is watching for the afternoon. However, when she is driving and has to turn a sharp corner, she must hold onto her beverage cup. Even though it sports a travel lid, her car’s cup-holders sometimes malfunction, sending the glass flying off on the floor.
Now, let me ask you a simple question: When she forgets to secure her cup at a corner, or if she were ever suddenly bumped from behind, what would spill out of her travel mug?
Yep. Sweet tea.
It wouldn’t be old, cold, bitter coffee leftover from three days ago.
Nor would it be nasty, sticky and syrupy Mountain Dew with a fly stuck in it that one of her brothers forgot to dump out the last time he road in her car.
It would be sweet tea; it could only be what is already inside the glass.
When I am “suddenly bumped”, the above verse illustrates this very concept. What is inside of me will spill out.
If I react to my husband with harsh words when he disappoints me; if I snap at a co-worker for no reason apparent to her; or if I answer my kids’ calling “Mom!!” for the 27th time with a harsh, angry and witch-like “Whaaaaaaat!!!!”….. I am simply spilling out what is already inside.
Read the verse again slowly, allowing its words to penetrate your soul. “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”
“The treasury of a good heart”.
One definition of treasury is “A place where valuables are collected, managed and disbursed”. Does that not perfectly describe our hearts!? We collect thoughts, manage our emotions and disburse reactions all through the treasury of our heart.
While I may make excuses for my hideous behavior, reasoning that my pestering kids “made” me snap at them with ugly words and a caustic tone, really my response to their question or their conduct just reveals what is already in me.
A glass of sweet tea, no matter how abruptly it gets bumped, is incapable of spilling out anything but the sugary, delightful drink.
Let’s purpose today to fill our heart’s treasury to the brim with the sweet, not the bitter; to store up God’s words to us in this verse, asking Him to bring them to our minds BEFORE we answer with our mouths in a way that might be awfully ugly.
When we are suddenly or perpetually bumped, jarred or shaken, let’s all transform into Southern gals and spill ourselves some good ole’ sweet tea.
Sound good, y’all?
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Okay ladies…in honor of this last holiday of summer, I am giving away this “tea-themed” gift. It includes:
~A box of tea-to-go mix ins for bottles of water. The flavor is sugar-free green tea with honey. It is sweetened with Splenda.
~A fun and funky travel mug, so you won’t spill your sweet tea!
~A green tea & white pear candle from Bath & Body works. I LOVE the fresh smell of this candle!!!
Leave a comment on this post to be entered in the random giveaway. Either comment on any aspect of this post or tell us what your favorite cold drink is.
Mine is Diet Cheerwine soda–which also sadly :-( I CANNOT get in Michigan!! So, I only drink it about twice a year.
Oh…and I almost forgot! The winner of the giveaway from over the weekend of the two Target Card bundles is…….Michelle Kelly; timestamp Sept. 4 at 5:18 a.m. NOW…you must report to us what happened when you gave away the second bundle to a stranger, okay?
See you Wednesday, everyone!