The Teacup and Saucer

My mother-in-law gave me and her son a beautiful teacup and saucer with a plant arrangement inside it.  Eventually the plants died back and I took the arrangement apart, tape from the saucer to hold the cup in place, dead flowers and leaves, a green flower-arranging sponge in the cup’s bottom.  This left the saucer empty.  Empty is how I felt because the gift was in sympathy.  We had lost a pregnancy.

I think of this teacup and saucer sometimes.  The cup was beautiful, with flowers painted on its sides.  I seem to remember a decorative silver rim around the saucer and the cup but I can never be sure.

I asked my husband if I could throw it away because it made me sad to look at it.  He did not hesitate to agree.

Years later I began my own business and I sold gift certificates as part of it.  For no extra charge I would put something extra in the packaging.  One of the first times I did this it was with teacups and saucers, found at thrift stores and yard sales.  I preferred ones with flowers on them and rims of silver.

Reflective questions:

1.  Is there an object that pulls at your heartstrings?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God what do you want me know)?

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you for today.  It is not for me to decide.

My Obituary (Part 2 - see 4/16/16 for Part 1)



 



So the first few lines I wrote for my obituary, which I guess is more like a eulogy, was "Marie was like the Little Engine.  She could because she tried.  She wasn't the best at anything - being a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, but boy did she try.  She loved the life she and her husband created.  Her home was special to her because you could see nature inside and out.  She appreciated the artful things that she and others created, marveling that each piece could not have been created before nor would they be created again and that the possibilities were and are infinite."

Today, when I look back at these sentences I wrote weeks ago, I think:  1.  Thank you Mom and Dad for reading to me, including the Little Engine that Could.  2. I was so nervous taking a mosaics class and the first night my hands fumbled around the materials and the tools.  But still *God/Spirit moved me to buy my own tools, go back and keep trying.  This included trying to recognize that my gifts will never create what someone else in the class created.  But with encouragement from the Spirit within to try and try again, there were some amazing works created by the teacher and all levels of students, including the new ones like me. 

Reflective questions:
1.  What are you thankful for?

2.  What things have you failed at creating?  Is it worth trying again?  Could it be that you are moving through the failures to get to the successes?

3.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God what do you want me know)?

4.  Is it time to add your obituary to your journal?

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you for today.  It is not for me to decide.