Coffee Date | Three
Coffee Dates were born at my friend Amber's place, and I could not be more grateful for her warm hospitality.
If we were on a coffee date, I would tell you that I'm honestly tired of summer. Blasphemous, I know, but I just cannot take the heat. Blessedly, my weather app is currently calling for a weeks worth of rain, so hopefully that will cool us down and revive the ground. I would definitely be drinking something iced. Don't get me wrong, I'll drink iced coffee pretty much any time of the year, but it is an absolute must when South Carolina's hanging out in the triple digits. Autumn and sweater weather can't get here soon enough.
If we were on a coffee date, I'd absolutely have to ask you about pen love. Pen love is strong with me, and only in the past several months have I really discovered how strong it is for other people, too. Right now, I am head over heels in love with these pens. They are just so dreamy.
If we were on a coffee date, I'd ask about what you're reading. I'm getting ready to start Love Does, and I couldn't be more excited for it. Also, I'm on two launch teams this summer, so I'd have to share about the beauty that is Lysa TerKeurst's Uninvited, and Shannan Martin's Falling Free.
If we were on a coffee date, I would ask you to watch this sermon. Oh my gosh, friend, I was sobbing before Christine Caine ever even blinked towards her notes. I cannot stop listening to it. This woman is so full of God's love and the knowledge of his word and I want everyone on the face of the planet to watch and listen and soak in the truth.
If we were on a coffee date, I'd tell you how good it felt to take a week away from social networking at the end of July, and how when I met up with my best friend for sushi, she actually said I seemed a lot more peaceful. I'm choosing to believe that those two are related, and trying to be much more intentional about shutting things down. I think I honestly just get sick of (and from) all of the voices, including my own. So I've started to ask myself why I post the things I do, and I think that's probably the very best filter we can use.
If we were on a coffee date, I'd share about how I used to romanticize the wilderness. All of my favorite writers have been sharing about their experiences in the woods over the past several months, and all along, I've naively thought how beautiful that place must be. The truth is, the wilderness is not a place for romanticizing, but it is a place for falling in love. And love is messy. Love is going the extra mile and every mile after that. And I want to be a person who goes the extra mile. The hard lesson for the moment is that I have to go the extra mile with myself, too.
If we were on a coffee date, I would ask how your heart is. And I wouldn't settle for answers of fine or okay. See, I took this spiritual gifts test through our church, and not surprisingly at all, hospitality came out on top. For a lot of people, especially women, hospitality has been diluted down to simply being the hostess with the mostess, but I don't care about making Pinterest pretty appetizers and making sure you can see the vacuum lines in the carpet. What I care about is how you are following Jesus and what your everyday life looks like and the things that you're dying to share, even if you're afraid, and even though there aren't easy answers. I want you to know that you are welcome here in all your broken glory.
What would you share with me on our coffee date? I'd love nothing more than to hear your thoughts, either in the comments or in your own post, which can be linked up below.
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