Avery shares their poem about how tasks as mundane as preparing tea can become a prayer. They were inspired to write this poem by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg's discussion of how Jewish law fosters mindfulness and orients a person towards God.
Text of the poem:
preparing tea is its own kind of prayer – one that heat and water pray for you.
the kettle’s keening. laughter bubbling up. the steady sigh of water as it folds into the cup.
see the steam raise its arms to embrace the sunlight peering in through kitchen window?
those swaying arms enact a psalm of praise clear as voice or timbrel, or clapping trees of the field.
see how the water blushes, rich and brown, as the sachet swirls within?
likewise are we saturated through with Spirit when we open to Her dance.
each mundane task, each daily chore or act overflows with blessing.
the whole world thrums with gratitude for God Who permeates the stream, the steam, the sunbeam’s heat –
Who was with the leaves when they unfurled from the twig to taste the pulse of the earth, its breath and light;
Who was with them when a hand reached up and plucked, and Who is with them still, as they swirl within the cup.
