I started hosting tea parties in an older home propped as pretty as you please on the corner of a quiet street. A family of four in a two-bedroom, one-bath home made for a tight fit, and tea parties felt downright snug, but no one would change a thing. Some teas were scripture-based, and others celebrated holidays, but every time, the room filled with the scent of scones, floral tea, and laughter.
In December 2007, I paused hosting after losing my maternal grandmother, one of the most influential women in my life. The desire fizzled until we moved to the Foothills of South Carolina. Maybe it was the mountain air, the silence that comes with country living, or a whisper from the Lord saying it’s time again.
I took these Valentine’s Tea pictures at the first tea in the mountains, an intimate gathering with writerly friends. The call to write for the Lord introduced us, but honing our skills together, leaning on each other during the disappointments, and cheering on the victories cultivated relationships written for eternity.
Marcia Moston, Carol Roper, and Beth Saadati
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I hope this is true, as I have more pictures than words today.
Initially, I plucked a neatly wrapped bunch of non-Valentine flowers from one of the grocery store floral buckets. They were pretty enough and saved a few pennies. But after spotting these tri-colored roses, I plunged the non-Valentine bunch back into their bucket and never looked back.
A favorite tea treat is a yogurt, vanilla-almond granola, and fruit in half-pint jars. My paternal grandmother passed down the vintage Apple Blossom tea cups and saucers you see above.
What better way to wish a group of writers a happy Valentine’s Day than by spelling it out? This idea works with any tea theme!
As a recovering perfectionist, I remind myself that the joy in gathering with friends, regardless of whether there are two or twenty around the table, isn’t discovered in perfectly set tables, dust-free surfaces, the most favorable food, or the perfect centerpiece but in the mingling of hearts and souls for God’s glory.
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” – C.S. Lewis
Or too many reasons to celebrate with friends. – Cathy Baker
Searching for creative ways to play, pray, and serve with your family this Fall?
Let’s set aside the TV, phones, and other devices because Fall is just around the corner, offering crisp winds, punkin’ patches, football, and fur-lined boots. Yes, please!
Gather the family—whether two or twenty—and choose a favorite activity to boost your time together and with the Lord. After all, a family that serves, plays, and prays together stays together.
Creative Ways to Serve Together
🍁 Host a yard sale and give the proceeds to a church fund, missionary, or charity.
🍁 Donate to a local missions store. Skip the yard sale and spend time together as a family gathering clothes, housewares, and toys to donate. Make plans to stop by for a treat on the way home.
🍁 Treat an elderly or disabled friend to a yard cleanup day. Rake leaves, trim shrubs, or pull weeds. Yard work offers service opportunities for all ages. Want to go a step further? Leave a bucket of mums or another fall floral arrangement behind to brighten their porch.
🍁 Bake pumpkin bread together. Wrap up the loaf and attach a small note with Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the LORD is good.” It’s sure to brighten the day of a lonely neighbor or friend when you hand-deliver it with a smile.
Creative Ways to Play Together
As a family, brainstorm twelve activities that won’t require much prep or money. Write each one on a slip of paper and put it in a “Fall Fun” jar. Draw one slip (or more!) every week and decide the best day to carry it out. Some ideas might be:
🍁 Take a nature walk to engage your senses. What catches your eye? How does a particular leaf feel? (Steering clear of poison ivy, of course! Leaves of three, leave them be. Thank you, Girl Scouts.) What scent fills your senses? What do you hear? (Silence counts!) As you walk, gather color-coated leaves, rocks, acorns, and evergreen branches to decorate your mantle or tabletop when you return home.
🍁 Go on a picnic. Choose a lovely location. Maybe it’s beside a creek, on a mountain, in a park, or your backyard. Children can help plan the menu and prepare the food for the picnic. Or plan to pick up a bucket of chicken. It’s not the food that matters but the memories created. Don’t forget a blanket/tablecloth, utensils, napkins, and bug spray.
🍁 Game night! Whoever chooses this slip of paper can choose which game the family plays. Turn off the TV and turn on the laughter.
🍁 Popcorn & Puzzles. Create a designated table to work on a puzzle throughout the fall season. On the nights this slip of paper is drawn, plan to serve popcorn, lemonade, or any family favorite food/drink.
Creative Ways to Pray Together
Teaching our children that meaningful prayer can be simple and enjoyable is a gift they will carry throughout adulthood. Here are a few ways to get the creative juices flowing when praying as a family:
🍁 Walk & Pray. Before you set out as a family, discuss various ways to pray for your neighbors, such as God’s blessings, God’s healing, for them to draw closer to God, for wisdom as a family, etc. Perhaps some neighbors need specific prayer. Share how God is the only One who truly knows what each person or family needs but that He honors our desire to pray for them. Then, take a walk around your neighborhood. You can pray quietly as you pass neighbors’ homes or silently while keeping your eyes open. This helps children to learn that while closing our eyes during prayer helps us concentrate, it’s also okay and biblical to pray with our eyes open.
🍁 Journal as a family. Purchase or create journals for every person in the family. Set aside a few minutes each night to journal together. Consider lighting gas logs or candles while you write. Younger children will enjoy coloring during their time. Setting aside fifteen minutes each night (or weeknights/weekends only) will help develop a pattern that will bless your children for many years to come.
🍁 Create a prayer board. Hang a designated “Prayer Request Chalkboard” in an accessible place in your home. When prayer requests arise, write them on the board and pray for them after dinner.
In a culture defined by division, intentionally creating togetherness is refreshing.
So, what idea could be added to the above list, and/or which one will you try first? We’d love to know!
There’s something about seeking out specific items within a certain time limit that puts a pep in our step! Granted, most hunts are minutes long but this one is more about slowing our pace, encouraging us to pause and to see simple objects in the light of God’s Word.
We started creating scavenger hunts in the Creative Pauses Facebook Group last year and we’ve never looked back.
So here’s the scoop!
It begins today and ends Saturday, April 2nd, at noon EST 6PM EST
Finish all five hunts by Saturday and you’ll be entered into a $25.00 Amazon gift card giveaway.
When you finish all five, come back to this blog post and leave a comment saying you’re finished. (We’d also love to hear what you enjoyed most about the hunt.)
If you like, snap photos of the items as you go and post them in the daily 1 PM “Share your pictures here” posts in the Facebook Group. Everyone enjoys seeing the various pictures but they’re not required to win. Have fun!
Hunting for objects + pause + reading the living and active Word + pause + meditating on His Word = a much-needed oasis for the heart, soul, and mind.
I’m a hibernator by nature. I love all things cozy, flickering, warm, and quiet. How ’bout you?
Like flowers that take flight in spring after a time of gathering up God’s goodness beneath a dormant ground, we too have similar opportunities.
You may remember my post, “Hibernate in Prayer to Awaken Your Soul”. Today, we’ll consider four more small, specific ways to hunker down, quiet our souls, and draw near to God in preparation for blooming wherever He plants us.
Immersing ourselves in God’s Word.
Merriam Webster defines the word “immersion” like this: to plunge into something that surrounds or covers especially. One way to immerse ourselves in scripture is to practice Lectio Divina, which simply means divine reading. There’s nothing mystical or new age-y about it (or else you wouldn’t find it here). And it’s no longer seen as belonging to a particular sect. It’s for every Christ-follower who longs to slow down to a savoring pace. Here’s a PDF sample I created if you’d like to give it a try!
Sing!
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 63:7 NIV) This place, beneath the shadow of God’s wings, is one of comfort and protection. As we stay close to Christ, how can we not sing? Put this verse to your own melody or sing another song/hymn that resonates way down deep. Or quietly hum. Look up to the sky or close your eyes ⏤ whatever helps you stay focused on the One you’re praising. What a sweet, sweet sound in the ears of our Heavenly Father.
Silence.
For God alone my heart waits in silence and quietly submits to him, for my hope is from him. (Psalm 62.5 AMP) What might seem like a simple act can quickly turn into a rodeo as we lasso distractions into submission. It’s why I created a system to help me remain still and silent despite the dodging of a noose. When a random thought or chore (supposedly in need of immediate attention) darts out while practicing the art of silence, I whisper the words not receiving. Maybe it’s just the way my quirky brain works but it helps me to differentiate the thoughts I want to set aside or discard and those I want to keep.
Confession.
Talk about freedom! If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 ESV) Sometimes, when words are a struggle, I pull out my journal and spill out every thought, sin, or question onto paper. Then, I draw a line beneath the confession and write what I know to be true despite those times I don’t feel forgiven. Whew! Thank goodness our faith is never dependent on emotions, only God’s Word. These quiet moments of cleansing ⏤ they’re sacred, life-giving, and refreshing. I’d love to share this journaling practice with you.
“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Van Gogh
A series of small things brought together, like soaking in God’s Word, worship, silence, and confession, bring forth great things for God’s glory.
Where do you “hibernate” with God in your home? We’d love to know! Share your answer in the comment section and you’ll be entered into a giveaway for a cup of your favorite Starbucks drink. Winter + a favorite warm beverage = pure delight!
Heads up! The January theme in our Creative Pauses Facebook group is “Hibernating in the Holy”. Each weekday, we’ll focus on a different spiritual “hibernation” practice. We’d love for you to join us!
Maybe you spotted our current gift for new subscribers, What to Pray for Room-by-Room? Together, we’ll walk through the rooms of your home as I share ideas on ways to pray for you, your family, guests, and even strangers. You’ll find the new subscriber box at the top of the sidebar. Of course, you can unsubscribe at any time, but we hope you’ll feel right at home here in The Tiny House on the Hill.
Who would choose to write a book on grief—and how could that be God’s provision?
The third book in my Soul Care series is on grieving. I signed the contract for this series of books in 2018 and the publication of the books was the order set up then. The series idea was born out of a stressful time of caregiving and loss while my dad was in the last stages of Alzheimer’s.
I learned many valuable things during that writing journey. I discovered that the five stages of grief that everyone talks about—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance— aren’t really a set process. They’re a list of things that are common to most grieving events. For me personally, I found myself often skipping one stage, like anger, and then waking up months later immersed in a rage that lingered. These stages can be helpful only when we realize what we’re going through isn’t unique, it’s a shared experience. What is not helpful is comparing my process to anyone else’s.
Another thing I learned was the fact that we all grieve differently. As an introvert, I do a lot of my grieving in private. I’m not hiding my pain or purposely pushing anyone away, I’m also not trying to be perceived as strong or something I’m not. I’m simply processing my loss in a way that is natural to how God created me. An extrovert often grieves the opposite way. They usually need to process their grief by sharing it with others. Neither way is wrong or even better, just different. Beyond our personality type, I’ve found we grieve differently every time we’re faced with loss.
But what about God’s provision?
That came to light beginning November 23, 2020. That day our precious daughter-in-law was killed in a tragic accident, leaving behind our son and their 3-month-old baby. Our family immediately drew together, supporting each other as we began to walk out our intense grief.
In this journey, I found an unexpected foundation of strength from the year of writing this book.
These are the things that helped me most.
I turned to God. I had learned I could safely take all my feelings (even the ugly ones) to God and He would embrace me. He is faithful to walk through the darkest valley with us—even when we’re angry with Him.
I practiced grace. Giving grace to myself and to those around me and not judging the process of grieving. For so many years I had thought I was doing it wrong. This time, I just took the waves of emotion as they came—without condemnation.
I read the Bible every day—first thing in the morning. I wasn’t in any kind of a formal Bible study, I just picked up the book and read. There is something incredibly healing about the word of God. By immersing myself in His healing words, I found the strength I needed.
I accepted help from others. I consider myself a strong person, so accepting help isn’t natural. But by letting others take care of us, we were better able to cope.
Accept the joy when it begins to appear. One of the hardest parts of grief for me, was when the enjoyment of life began to break through. It felt like experiencing joy was somehow a betrayal of the loss I’d had.
I don’t think there’s anyone reading this who hasn’t experienced some kind of major loss in the eighteen months. But it’s important to lean into God and let the healing begin. When I was ready, God began to once again flood my life with the warmth of His love. He has introduced us to a new rhythm for life—not one we’d have ever chosen—but still filled with beauty and a little more joy every day.
Cathy here! Edie, thank you for being our guest today.
If you’d like to win a Kindle copy of Soul Care When You’re Grieving (release date is November 2nd!), leave a comment below.
Edie Melson is a woman of faith with ink-stained fingers observing life through the lens of her camera. She’s a writer who feels lost without her camera and a reluctant speaker who loves to encourage an audience. And she embraces the ultimate contradiction of being an organized creative. She knows the necessity of Soul Care and leads workshops around the country on staying connected to God. Her numerous books, including the award-winning Soul Care series and Unruffled, Thriving in Chaos reflect her passion to help others develop the strength of their God-given gifts and apply them to their lives. Connect with her on social media & thru EdieMelson.com.
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.comand affiliated sites.
Are you a member of the Creative Pauses community?
Sign up for Cathy's monthly newsletter to join our community and receive the latest seasonal gifts, posts, behind-the-scenes information, creative resources, and giveaways!
Unsubscribe at any time.
Welcome to the Creative Pauses community! Make yourself right at home.
If you’d like to win a Kindle copy of Soul Care When You’re Grieving (release date is November 2nd!), leave a comment below. 
