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!

89 Comments

  1. My favorite cold drink is either plain old ice water or some really good lemonade – but my Southern husband sure would agree with your daughter’s ice tea preference!

  2. I do lightly sweetened iced tea. Just enough of the good stuff! Thank you for the verse, too! It spoke volumes today.

  3. Awesome !!!I love me some sweet tea,I could drink it through my nose,I swear.Only if I had to. Ha! I am from Mississippi so ya know…
    Please count me in!! I need me one of those cups and that candle rocks. I don’t do sugar free,I am so about the sugar!Thanks doll.
    [email protected]

  4. I have heard this sentiment a couple of times in the past couple of months and now have heard it from you also. Amazing how in my 45 years I had never heard this concept and now have heard it 3 times. I even blogged about it myself! Love your illustrations! Sweet tea is wonderful. Can’t find it anywhere outside of the south that tastes the same. I have tried and miss it when we travel. Your daughter is a smart girl! Chic-Fil-A has some of the best.

  5. I try to drink plenty of water but if I go out I mostly get sweet tea or some type of flavored tea, like green tea or lemon tea, if the beverages are sold in bottles. I love the green tea (ice tea) made by Lipton. There is also a company called Turkey Hill that makes wonderful ice tea in different flavors.

  6. Thanks so much for this insightful devotion! Since I’m in south Texas, this makes perfect sense; thinking about it as I sip my sweet tea…mmm…God wants me to keep a lid on my attitude!

  7. This is going to have to be a lifetime challenge for me. If you want to spill Sweet Tea, you have to fill your glass with Sweet Tea. And then, if some gets spilled, REFILL with more Sweet Tea. Such a simple concept, yet a hard one to obtain. Thanks for the reminder and new perspective! P.S. I enjoy plain old iced tea!

  8. What a great reminder! As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. As “mommy” to one year old and three year old boys, I so often feel or see the need to quickly ask the Lord to fill my heart with His love.
    As for a nice cold drink… I am a born and bred southern girl; so ya’ll can pass me an ice cold sweet tea! You will find me more often with water, though.

  9. Wow, what a challenge your blog post is for me. I’ve had a rough week with my kids and there were more than a few times sweet tea was definitely not what came spilling out of my mouth. I needed to hear what you said, doesn’t feel sweet for me, but I hope that I can get better at spilling the sweet stuff for my kids. Thank you for your words.
    Oh, and my favourite cold drink is an Iced Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks, which is only a once in a blue moon treat for me.

  10. Love the devotional, Luke 6:45, and sweet tea with a sprig of mint. Sounds fine right about now. Catch y’all on the back porch.

    Blessings from a Southern Texas Girl, Ann

  11. My favorite drink varies. I love variety. Sometimes I just want a cold Dr. Pepper. When I’m near a Sonic, however, I like to drink one of their Cherry Limeades.

  12. This message was right on target! I am working on putting more sweetness in so when it spills out I won’t be running my mouth with bitter words. I am still having problems in the area of “other drivers on the road”. And the more I try to keep my mouth shut during episodes, the more often I get cut off. Thank you for the message. It is a picture I will be seeing next time I get cut off by a rude driver on the highway.

  13. I love this devotional…

    “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.”

    How true is that? Thanks for the reminder… If I choose to fill my free time with God’s word & God honoring activities, books, movies, etc… Then it will be more likely that I will spill “sweet tea”

    And since I drink sweet tea every day (I’m a southerner transplanted to the midwest) what a great way for me to be reminded, over & over again!

  14. I am a sweet tea girl too (my husband calls it syrup). Anyway we live overseas now and the tea bags just aren’t the same. My mom has to keep me stocked through care packages because I can’t live without it.

  15. “For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.” Amy Carmichael

    Love it! BTW-My FAV is Vanilla DP & a good ol’ SWEET TEA ;)

  16. I am a GRIT (girl raised in the South) and love sweet tea. What a shocker as a teenager to realize some people didn’t drink sugar in their tea! Having lived away from the Deep South for almost 40 years, I still love to visit Cracker Barrel whenever we travel. Sadly, they aren’t in the NW where we live!

  17. Thank you! Wanting to be Christ like all the time. This is such a wonderful way to remind me, daily. What is
    really inside!? My favorite drink is unsweet ice tea with lemon. My southern SC husband says that is the yankee in me. Ha

  18. A strawberry limeade would be my drink of choice – usually though a cup in the car would be coffee. My friends always know the coffee is on at our house.

  19. Karen, what an amazing word picture–love the analogy and verse. While I don’t drink tea, I love cherry coke. I would give the gift to my best friend who is going through a huge valley time with the possible divorce of her son and daughter-in-law who spews many hurtful words from her heart (the daughter-in-law) and yet my friend remains constant in her example of unconditional love with her words. This is such an urgent reminder that the words we say should be a check on our hearts condition, and I am going to type up a 3 x 5 card and place it on my bathroom mirror for a constant reminder for me to be mindful of my words to my family and others.

    Blessed post. Thanks for sharing your heart.

  20. Wouldn’t it be great if only sweet words would flow out of me all the time. I’m planning on meditating on this verse and your words today. I also like Psalm 119:11 – Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee. These words are sweet to my soul.

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