Conversations In A Coffee Shop

There is something about a coffee shop.
It is a wonderful place to go and meet a friend.
It is a great place to go and get things done on your laptop.
It is a quick stop for those who want to get a cup of their favorite coffee to go.

I love a cozy coffee shop.
However, I have never had a cup of coffee.
No one believes me when I say that.
I have absolutely no desire to even try coffee.

I have two electric percolators, which according to my husband makes great coffee.
I will make a pot of coffee for him.
I will make a pot of coffee for the women that come to my home for Bible study.
I will make a pot of coffee for guests.

No one knows that I throw away the coffee grounds as soon as I possibly can.
I do not even like the smell of coffee.
When I leave a coffee shop, the smell of coffee lingers on my clothes.
To many, that smell would be appealing but not to me.

I love my cup of tea.
I have a cup of tea every afternoon.
When I come home from whatever called me away that morning, my cup of tea calls to me.
It is usually sometime after 3:00 when I am ready to sit down and relax a bit.

I do not like flavored tea.
I am a regular, black tea kind of girl.
I have been to restaurants where I have to choose my tea from a little box or tray.
I always bypass the flavored tea and go right to the regular tea.

I actually order my tea from Ireland.
It is my very favorite tea to drink.
My husband was the one who suggested I order that tea a couple times a year.
It is always exciting to see that box waiting for my at the front door.

Perhaps it is simply the ambiance of a coffee shop that I enjoy.
I often suggest a local coffee shop if I am meeting a friend.
I just went to a local coffee shop so a friend and I could sit and talk for a while.
I knew that I would order some tea; I assumed she would order some coffee.

She had an app on her phone for the particular coffee shop.
She wanted me to order first.
Then she ordered her coffee with names and terms that I did not even understand.
I teased her that she was the quintessential coffee drinker that you see in all the movies.

The barista laughed.
My friend laughed.
I was amazed at the speed with which each coffee order was prepared.
The machines made noise as they mixed the variety of orders the customers requested.

I looked around the coffee shop.
Each table was occupied.
Some people were alone and on their laptops; some were talking much like me and my friend.
Our order was called and my friend went up to get it.

I knew that I would need a dictionary just to keep up with the various terms.
I knew that I would need a handbook just to be able to use the various machines.
Each person behind the counter was skilled at making coffee just the way people wanted it.
In the time we were there, not one order got mixed up with another.

As my friend and I talked, I realized that each table was its own little world.
The din of conversation was going on all around us.
There was a hum of voices.
We were all together in one place but we were all separate.

The people at each table had their own reason for being there.
None of us knew each other, except for the people with whom we were sitting.
I could not understand any of the conversations around me even if I tried.
I heard the din of voices but could not discern anything that anyone was saying.

And I thought of prayer.
I thought of prayers going up to the Father at any given moment.
Can you imagine if our prayers were audible?
Can you imagine if we sat in a coffee shop and prayed out loud?

It would be the same din of voices.
It would be different voices saying all sorts of things only meant for a certain Hearer.
None of the other tables would understand the prayers that were being said.
Each voice was meant to be heard by one Listener.

One Listener.
One Hearer.
One Person who understands a single voice among the din of voices.
One Person who hears our voice as if it was the only voice speaking.

God the Father is that in tune with us as we pray.
We hear the din.
God the Father hears the heart.
God the Father hears the voice of the one among the many.

Even if I had strained to hear another conversation, I would not have understood it.
I would have heard words but I would not have understood what they meant.
God the Father can hear the prayers of every person all over the world.
God the Father can hear the prayers of each of us, every minute of every day.

God the Father is the perfect Listener.
God the Father is tuned in to what we say and what we cannot bring ourselves to say.
I am sure some of the conversations in the coffee shop were difficult ones.
When we do not know what to pray, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. (Romans 8:26,27)

I do not need a dictionary to know how to pray correctly.
I do not need an handbook to show me how to pray in five easy steps.
I just need to talk to God; I need to pour out my heart to Him.
God the Father will hear me and He will answer.