China Tea Set

The guesses for what I had in my box today were very funny. I gave the clue that it was very old and the guesses were, Lego's, a sweater, and lipstick! But instead, today I had an old toy tea set, in it's original box. It had been my aunt's when she was a little girl, and when I was little, it sat on a high shelf in the playroom. My grandmother (Sarah) told me I couldn't touch it, but when I was older she would get it down so we could have tea parties together. The playroom was stuffed with everything, books, dolls, blocks, my father's electric train set, but all I wanted was the tea set. So one day I stood on a chair, and got it down to play with it very carefully, and of course I broke a saucer. I then very carefully put everything back in the box, so that you couldn't tell the saucer was broken, and put the box back on the shelf. I'm not sure how my grandmother found out, she had a sixth sense about us misbehaving, but she did & I was punished & then she told me no matter what I did she would still love me. Now I have the tea set, on a shelf, waiting for my daughter, Sarah Frances, to be old enough to play with it.

Telling this story then led to talking about the garden, and how even though the first people could touch anything in it, all they wanted was what was forbidden. From the beginning of time we have always wanted what we couldn't, or shouldn't have. We all have apples in our lives, the tea set on the shelf that is attractive in part because it is off limits. We all covet. From time to time, we will all choose to touch what we shouldn't. And poor choices almost always have consequences. Thankfully, grace means no matter how many times we break the tea set, God's love will always be there for us.