Cups of blessings...

My mother has been in heaven for more than 10 years, but her teacups continue to minister...

Here is the background on those cups. All through the years as we were growing up, my father traveled around the world preaching. In each country where he preached, he would buy a beautiful china teacup and bring it home to my mother. There were a LOT of teacups!

My mother used them constantly. They entertained all the time. She was known among the ministers and their wives for being a wonderful hostess, and they always knew they would get a good cup of her Norwegian coffee. The coffee was served in those cups all through her life. The teacups sat there on the coffee table as those ministers and their wives joined in laughter, prayer and fellowship. 

Just for the sake of interest, many of those who were in our home were leaders in the Christian world that we have listened to, heard about, read their books or books about them. I call them my heroes of faith...

Those were sacred cups!

When my mom and dad both went to be with Jesus, I grieved so deeply and missed them so terribly. That first Christmas, I went into the garage and dug out some of her teacups. I made my sugared pecans, filled the cup with a bag of them, and wrote a note to each recipient about the journey of that teacup and why I had selected them for a special blessing. 

I gave them away that Christmas, to my wonderful friend at the local bank, my sweet friend at the post office, one of my first friends when we moved to Dallas, and many others. It helped my healing process. It also continued the journey of those teacups... spiritual teacups is the way I think of them, with a ministry all their own, that has continued long after the initial gift of my dad to my mom.

I hope and pray that my hospitality will continue to bless others as my mother's did during her life. Each of us have different gifts, but even a simple teacup is a blessing when it is used to share His love.

The blessing that goes on and on...