very powerful stuff – TNT – isn’t it? A compound kind of like dynamite, used to blow stuff up, that’s TNT. Recently, I had an encounter of my own with TNT – a very powerful encounter as would be expected. But it’s not what you’re thinking, dear readers. Full disclosure – my TNT experience was “tea and talk” with good friends who invited me to TNT for my birthday. And let me just say, there’s nothing like hot tea and warm words on a cold day to revive the soul and warm the heart. (and really good cake helps, too – making life sweet) Our time of TNT did just that for me and so much more.

Now tea and talk doesn’t have to be just for special occasions, it can take place on the most ordinary of days turning them into memorable dates. I have found there is power in the tea and talk TNT, just as there is power in the chemical TNT to change things, to change the world. When women get together and talk over tea, things can happen. Ideas are exchanged, problems presented, solutions proposed, plans made, all over tea and talk. I have to wonder if perhaps women during the suffragette era, didn’t do their plotting and their planning over tea parties?

Tea parties would have been considered an acceptable pastime for women in those days. Men didn’t understand that the talk portion of the TNT could be explosive, as women discussed the important issues of the day. (today we call them “hot topics”) Then talk would naturally turn to possible actions needed to resolve problems or to change needed in current ways of doing things or to changing existing laws or to making new ones, if necessary. (which is what was needed to give women the right to vote – a constitutional amendment) Women have been changing the world one tea party at a time for centuries, if truth be told.

Of course, sometimes the issues talked about are more personal in nature, but still explosive and life changing, nevertheless. During tea and talk, women find the support of other women as they face life’s inevitable challenges. We find encouragement, wisdom, advice, comfort and courage in our time spent together over tea as we discuss our life’s struggles, our life goals and purposes. In this powerful time of TNT, we find renewed strength to go back out there and change the world for the better one day at a time. TNT can be explosive, but it is at the same time a safe space. I think these words from Proverbs describe tea and talk well,

“Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his (her) earnest counsel.” (Proverbs 27:9) The NLT translation says it this way,

“The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.”

I couldn’t agree more! And that’s what happens during tea and talk – we each give and receive heartfelt counsel. And heartfelt, Godly, true counsel encourages women to become women who change the world one tea party at a time. Yes, there’s explosive power in TNT.

thank You, Lord, for all the wisdom and Godly counsel I receive from my sisters over tea and talk!

sincerely, Grace Day