....across the room to talk about coffee....

Coffee.  My heart always skips a beat when a friend calls to invite me for coffee.  It means I can drop what I'm doing and enjoy the company of someone I like to be with.  It's a communal drink according to Leonard Sweet, author of "The Gospel According to Starbucks". The discovery of coffee apparently was  what saved many from the grip that alcohol had on them during the Dark Ages when it was unsafe to drink water and this included women and children.  An English Puritan wrote the following poem in 1674:

When the sweet Poison of the Treacherous Grape

Had acted on the world a general rape;

Drowning our Reason and our souls

In such deep seas of large o'erflowing bowls....

When foggy Ale, leavying up mighty trains,

Of muddy vapours, had besieg'd our Brains,

Then Heaven in Pity....

First sent amongst us this All-healing Berry....

Coffee arrives, that grave and wholesome Liquor,

That heals the stomach, makes the genius quicker,

Relieves the memory, revives the sad,

And cheers the Spirits, without making mad.

I had no idea coffee houses date back to around 1650!  They spread throughout Europe and were considered "information exchanges'...a place for movers and shakers to discuss what they were reading.  Each coffee house had a brand name that advertised whether it was for writers, philosophers, businessmen or poets etc!  The more they prospered the more conversation became an art.  Apparently the eighteenth century became known as "The age of conversation".  Sweet says that if you started a quarrel in a coffee house you had to atone for it by buying a round for everyone!  Now I'm not sure how accurate this book is but I sure enjoyed all these bits of information.

The book is not entirely about coffee though.  It's written to illustrate how the Christian life is meant to be experienced and fully participated in with God.  He says that when our life is a life of passion for God, it takes on the taste and feel of God and invites others to experience Him too.

PS...the coffee picture is from 2002 in New Mexico...

...across the room for a reality check.....

Have you ever met someone and wondered what the person is REALLY like underneath all the mindless chit chat we so often engage in?  What do we strive for in our lives?  What kind of person do we want to be and who are we really?

I am making an honest effort to be careful about suggesting books to people that they may not be ready to read.  When I read something that grabs me I just want to share that treasure with everyone I know but I have found that I have to be ready for every message I get for it to really speak to me and quite possibly you are the same.  And so it was with the book I've just opened as my next read.  It was a gift from one of my daughters awhile back, I did look at it but wasn't ready to read it yet.  I never just open a book to page one and get going.  I "shop" the pages.  When I am out shopping for something in particular I may find something I really like almost immediately but my personality is such that I absolutely HAVE to check out other stores to make sure there isn't something even better.  I'm glad I shopped this book because in the back pages I found a discussion guide with questions for coaching and conversation.  I've only read the intro and first chapter and was glad I had read the first few questions so I could think about them as I read.  There are four "headings" in this section.  They are 1.  Being   2.  Real   3.  Engages the   4.  World

So these are some of the questions under the first heading:

WHO do you want to be now?

What  is CREATING who you are? 

What DISTRACTS you from being all you can be?

 

Under the second heading is another set of questions including:

How much of who you are now is who you WANT to be?

What is going on in you and through you that you are not proud of?

What would have to change in order for you to be more real?

What is the best version of yourself and how often do you see it?

I think these are great questions unless you prefer to never allow people to see you as you really are.  Honestly, I want to be an open book ALL THE TIME.  I do not want to waste time and energy pulling the wool over people's eyes to get them to see me as a different person from what I really am.  I know.  It's risky business.  At least it feels risky to me sometimes.  I get strange looks from people sometimes when I speak my mind.  Even better is when people "gently" and "diplomatically" try to "teach" me.  At times I can laugh about that but sometimes it is hurtful.  I would still rather have that than pretence any day.  I know, I know.  I'm off on a tangent here but this is what was going through my mind.  I'm going back, to ponder those questions and yes, next time I may very well tell you what I'm reading!!  But for now, I will just leave you with the questions in case you want to walk across the room to talk about those.....