Two Cups of Tea at Hope’s Café
Fresh off a week of celebrations with friends and family, first Thanksgiving, followed two days later by my husband Terry’s 80th birthday party, I am deeply aware of the role we play in loving, supporting and cheering each other on through life. However, with three grandchildren I witnessed another aspect of our human behavior that mirrors society’s troublesome characteristic: the struggle for power, for dominance.
For five years, our grandson Gabriel was the “baby” of the family, the younger of two boys. Then our daughter and son-in-law pursued the adoption of “Mercy,” who was just shy of three when she came to live with them in 2024. She was adopted from an orphanage in Africa where the family was living at the time. Culture shock engulfed everyone concerned! Jockeying for position became a major occupation for these three children. And it isn’t a pretty sight!
Mercy is a recognized leader at preschool. She pays attention to those absent on any given day. She is like a sheepherding dog, rounding people up, directing play time with her classmates. At home she is the youngest and is resented by her brothers when she tries to dominate. Gabriel is quite distressed to be misplaced in the family dynamic. Sebastian sometimes takes on a leadership role, getting the three of them to play in some way he designs and they follow. Other times he is just part of the fray.
Yet in the midst of this, Mercy demonstrated something else. She asked me to play a board game with her. At four, she seemed to me perhaps not quite prepared to understand the game or to play by its rules. But she did. She was pleased with herself when she won the first game. When I won the second one I expected some objection. Instead, she enthusiastically clapped for me.
What a different world this would be if we clapped for each other, cheered each other on, truly recognized we are all “just walking each other home.” At this time of year when we focus on charitable acts, we have the opportunity to accept the challenge to recommit every day to being charitable people in a fractious world. As Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get. But we make a life by what we give.”
The invitation is open to share two cups of tea anytime at Hope’s Café or anywhere you share companionship and conversation.
May we bearers of hope, the “wait staff” at Hope’s Café, for each other and all those we encounter. Shalom, Kate
Hope's Cafe 