Superblends Sleep Tea

I used to holiday with a friend. To save money, we would book a twin room with two single beds. Within approximately 6.8 seconds of his head touching the pillow, he was fast asleep, and snoring. At 5.30am, he would cheerfully and suddenly awaken and immediately rise, refreshed and invigorated for another day’s sightseeing. I, on the other hand, would take a good twenty minutes to enter a light sleep, and would find it hard to arise from my slumber in the morning, such as it was. I envied my friend’s sleeping habits, for I have never been a good sleeper, the cares of the day and the tasks of the morrow playing on my mind.

Twining’s Superblends Sleep tea containing Valerian and Orange Blossom with Passion Flower almost promises a better rest, or to use the company lawyers’ preferred expression: it ‘contributes towards a normal night’s sleep’. It was certainly a normal night’s sleep I had after drinking it, because I could perceive no difference. The drink was not unpleasant, but my sleep that night was little altered. Perhaps I had not followed the instructions precisely: “Slip on your super soft socks, bathe in cosy candle light and sip a cup of comfort to your heart’s content”.

When I was very young, I remember getting out of bed and complaining that I could not sleep. I recall it was 9pm, and thought this very late. My mother, wise and cunning as she always was, went to the fridge and made me a sleeping potion. I watched her pour milk and then water into a glass, and stirred it several times. “This”, said she, “will make you sleep straight away”. And it did.

Little me believed that the watery milk was truly a sleeping potion. Older me was rather more cynical about the compelling effects of valerian, orange blossom and passion flower. Perhaps I had to believe Twinings for their claims to be realised, much like a placebo on the sick. Medical and psychological assessments aside, the gospel, too, has to be believed. For it to be known, disputed, debated, consulted, encapsulated, deliberated, admired or even defended is simply not enough. One is called to believe it.

And he [Abraham] believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Genesis 15:6

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24