Cup of tea?

I probably drink between eight and ten cups of tea or coffee each day.

The first is always while I have my devotional time first thing in the morning, frequently the coffee is finished long before the prayers are. 

The second is a cup of tea with my wife while she wakes up. I have made her a dink every morning of our married life and taken it to her in bed. I wouldn't want it any other way.

The third is normally as I arrive in the office and, again, it accompanies the prayers that are shared with the team.

Thereafter I take a drink as required sometimes because I'm thirsty, sometimes because someone asks for a meeting and I know it will flow better with drink in hand, and sometimes it is a 'thinking' drink, normally taken while looking out of my office window towards the hills in the distance.

Every drink refreshes but also fulfils a separate purpose.

While today's challenge is to share a cup of tea or coffee (and make it myself) with someone I don't normally, in one sense it won't be difficult - as I am at a residential retreat with a number of people I know but don't spend a huge amount of time with - the spirit of the task could be lost. 

So today I will not only make and share a drink but will ensure that I spend the full time drinking fully engaged in the other persons life and hopes.

More tea vicar?