OK, I just have a sec but I’m so amused by something that I have to tell you about it. I am at a coffee shop close to Melissa’s apartment. The movers packed her stuff yesterday and are putting it in the truck as we speak. I’d been perched on her back porch but they needed to move that furniture, too. Besides, it’s cold here today and my hands were freezing. All that to say, I had to find a place close by and, as God would have it, it has wireless internet. The place was packed when I came in. Really cute decor with a half a dozen small round tables surrounded by four wing back chairs. By the time I ordered my coffee, several people departed and I threw my stuff in a chair as fast as I could. In a few minutes, two men – I think in late thirties – couldn’t find a place to sit so they asked if they could sit at my table. I told them to be my guest. They’d not distract me at all.
I totally lied.
Watching those two men try to do coffee was the most awkward thing I’ve ever seen. They couldn’t have been business associates or, goodness knows, they’d have talked business. And I would’ve been relieved. Instead, for the life of them, they could not think of one single thing to say. And, no, they weren’t trying to be quiet for my sake. The whole establishment is abuzz with conversation. One of them tapped on the top of his cup. The other made a few attempts at sentences starting with, “SO…” It was pitiful. Worse than pitiful. It was painful. I cannot tell you how tempted I was to help them. They needed rescuing in the worst way and I had at least five topics for conversation on the tip of my tongue: weddings, up-dos, grandboys who have learned to talk in full sentences, women’s Bible study, and baby girls moving to Atlanta with new husbands. But somehow I got the feeling they didn’t want my help. I tried not to look at them. It would have been too humiliating for them. So there I sat, pecking away on my computer, acting like I had no idea that they were having the world’s most awkward cup of coffee. Anyway, I don’t even think they were real coffee drinkers. Out of the corner of my discerning eye, I saw no pause for reflection after a single sip. Dead giveaway that they were posers. That was their first problem.
And here I am, communicating with a whole herd of women I’ve never even met with names that, five years ago, would’ve sounded like cartoon characters and about all manner of personal thing happening in my family’s life.
Yep. I love being a woman.
PS. I like to have died (that’s how my people always talked. I really do have some education. I just don’t sound like I do) over Mommy Dot Com sharing that she’d been nominated as “customer of the week” at her neighborhood Starbucks and nearly started crying when they announced someone else as the winner. Laughing my danged head off. You are customer of the week to all your siestas.
Another thought just occurred to me…too bad Jackson wasn’t there to be a shining example of male communication. :o)
I am glad I’m a woman, too. Can you imagine two women sitting down and not having tons of things to say. Those poor men. If they only knew that one of the worlds best story writers was secretly observing them they would have died. You are a total hoot and don’t ever change. You make me laugh but at the same time my walk with Jesus hasn’t been the same since I started taking your Bible studies. You are an awesome lady, a mother to be envied and your love of Jesus keeps me coming back to hear more. Thanks for your honesty. We love you!
hahahahahaha i just choked on my cadbury mini eggs cause i’m laughing so hard at the coffee posers and cartoon characters…
oh mama beth i wouldn’t trade this blog town for anything.
i bet they went straight home and watched sports center
Amen! and Amen!
Can anyone appreciate a hot cup of coffee and good conversation like a sister? Thanks for the giggle!
Beth….You are too funny! I have so enjoyed the LPM Blog…esp. the wedding commentary as I have married off my four children…two girls and two boys! Thanks for allowing me to have a front-row seat at Melissa’s wedding.
oh my, I laughed so hard!! Please tell me that they weren’t drinking a latte – I think I would fall off my chair. How I love men and how they amuse me, but thank the dear Lord that I am a woman!!!
Kimberly from northern Michigan
That is the funniest thing. Aren’t you glad that we are women. Thank the Lord.
Amen to that. I have always had the gift of gab also, although my husband might call it a curse! I made my husband watch week 9 of Jesus the One and Only with me yesterday, and before you lead the sinners prayer you mentioned that you were wordy and went on for a while about a few other things. My husband looked over at me and said, “she really is wordy isn’t she?” I laughted to bursting. Oh praise God that our bible study diva is wordy!
Beth-
I love to read your words. Often times when I read them, you verbalize what is in my heart or on my mind.
I often say- that is a woman after my own heart in every sense, through you heartaches, and struggles, and triumphant in Christ.
Your passion of the Lord and in the Lord is so contagious! Thank you so much for serving in words. It helps bring Christ’s words to reality for me and makes me want to do more for HIM.
We have recently moved to Houston,Texas. From the Springfield, MO area.This move was so hard on me spiritually and emotionally. To make a VERY long story short, I quickly joined one of your bible studies locally, and it has been my life line. It has challenged me to “Ascend” in song of Praise. (can you guess which study I am in?) It has been such a joy in my life that I do not want it to end though it must. I guess one of my hearts desire will be to attend one of your studies and maybe now that I live here I just might get to.(Lord willing)
Thank you Beth- for being you- for following God’s calling, for touching so many lives, hearts, and showing them that you can come from HORRIBLE things, and be beautiful before Our KING!!(Jesus Christ!)
With Much love Your Sister In Christ
Angie S
So glad I’m not the only one who loves to share a table just for the joy of people watching up close!! & I must tell you, after many strange & painful upheavals in my life lately, just getting to be a girl with ya’ll is so sweet. In the midst of everything I’ve once again had my Beloved Redeemer point out that all the quirky things that make up the woman I am were planned… on purpose… just for HIS personal pleasure of enjoying ME!!!
So happy to be quirky together!! Thank YOU JESUS! – mistie woods
I love being a woman, too. I do not lack for words either. I’d so love to sit with you at a coffee shop and talk about God and some of the thousands of things He has taught me through you Beth Moore! Oh, I have so many questions and comments and stories I’d love to share with you about my family. Thanks so much for making me feel like a part of your family. I was so thrilled to get to sit so close to you and your hubby at Deeper Still in Nashville in the fall and I wanted so desperately to tap your shoulder and just say Hi and I love you and pray for you but could not. So, just count this message as that hug and hi to you.
Love you and again thank you for helping me hunger for the LORD more than I ever thought possible. God bless you and your precious family! ~Dana
i love that you just shared that with us…:)…..
it’s so funny what you observe in your life and then choose to share it with us….
i’m laughing out loud!
Welcome back Beth!! May I put a prayer request out to your readers? If you read this over the weekend, my family needs prayers for a crisis we are going through. I could use everyone’s prayers-please. Pray for a peaceful resolution to the crisis and that God will be glorified and back in control. In my tears I thank you.
In His Graces~Pamela
Hee hee hee snort ha ha ha
Hi Beth! This was such a funny mental picture!
Here’s something I’ve noticed. Women seem to be to be much better at face-to-face conversations, but my hubby can talk on his cell phone for HOURS with friends and business associates and then finally get to the reason for the call. Has anyone else noticed this???
Love ya!
Adrienne
Amen to that Siesta! I love all of your posts!
Angie in SD
Oh, those poor guys. Little did they know that their innocent cup of coffee would end up as blog fodder on the LPM blog. I mean, if it were MY blog, no prob, maybe twenty visits per day…but THE LPM BLOG!!!! Hundreds of visitors! Poor, poor men!
A. M. E. N. !!!! They didn’t even sip & enjoy & reflect???? Oh, my. I think I need a cup right now…
What did we ever do before the Internet? I’m so glad I’m able to learn about you and from you — you are a blessing!
that is priceless!!!
I got engaged last Saturday as a HUGE surprise. We went on a dinner cruise on Kentucky lake (any of you ever heard of it?) Anyway, I was fussed over and proposed to in front of about 70 people. Oh how we love to be fussed over by the men in our lives. Oh did he fuss over me. If you want the pics and the video…feel free to email me. I love to share and brag….anyway, I kept saying, ” I love being a girl or rather a woman.” I can fully appreciate it as a woman. I could live without the mood swings and pms and all that craziness…but I love to get dolled up and have my future husband fuss and swoon over me. BTW ladies he is an answer to a prayer. Don’t give up!
[email protected]
i couldn’t tell you how many times a week i have that same thought- i am SO GLAD to be a woman!!! i often wonder how intimacy between dudes and Jesus works, because as a woman its easy for me to imagine being close to him in an intimate way.
Good Evening Beth! I like to consider my self pretty good at winning challeges… I lost today!!
So I owe the fellows at the coffee shop a large Hawaiian Kona coffee!!! Being the people person that you are… I just knew that you would strike up a converstion with them within the first five minutes if they could not start one themselves…feeling sorry for them.They were told they could not carry on a conversation unless you initiated it. Me and my mother-in-law were sitting in the corner holding our breath!These two unexpected guys are now sitting at the table reading your blog, toasting coffee and having a blast!!! Believe me when I say this…they are never lost for words!!!
OK…I totally lied too!
Sorry Beth!!! I couldn’t resist having a little fun with you!!!I have been working with Jr.High students…needed a release!You provided me with the perfect opportunity.I Hope you are getting some well deserved rest!Thank you so much for sharing Melissa and Colin’s wedding with us…it was such a blessing!
P.S. It’s not necessary for you to post this blog…just meant to have some good,clean fun with you and your family.
Cady
I LOVE that! And yes, I do love being a woman. Although I have to say that my hubby is a great “meeting for for coffee” guy and meets with a friend for coffee weekly. And they TALK! They are exceptional, I know. My hubby also watches your videos with me and doesn’t mind one bit when you call us “girls”. He knows that you really mean “girls and Dave”. But that’s just awkward to say.
When I first saw that you had posted, I was a little bummed that my computer at work won’t let me got on here and check it. I mean, I could miss some big news!! At my last job, I could look periodically, but those days are over. Once I started reading I was very glad that I didn’t read it at work because I would have scared all my new fellow workers when I started laughing out loud, almost uncontrolably!! I have soo sat at Starbucks and “people watched”. Poor guys! Its just awkward!! And Im just like you…it takes all I can do to keep from talking to them.
THanks for reminding us that it IS great to be a woman!!
Love you Mama Beth!!
Nikki
I can’t believe those guys got to have coffee with Beth Moore and didn’t say a word! All us Siestas would have LOVED 10 minutes to chat with you. Speaking of chatting…I noticed in the recent photos your hair looked short. Did you get a haircut, or was it an updo? You looked fabulous!
Rhonda
I wouldn’t be a man for anything. To revert to my North Carolina vernacular, they’re just so pitifully “stove up!” 😉
I don’t comment alot because well, you get 1,000 comments a day and I know you are busy!
But this post made me smile, because it is so, so very true. We women can talk anywhere, anytime, about any thing!
Your daughters (both of them) were just beautiful in all the wedding photos. I’ve done many of your bible studies so I can say that I feel like an extended part of the family 🙂
Thank you for sharing a tiny slice of your life with us. It makes you all the more real, Beth. And, to me, that makes you even more precious. Heaven is going to be the most wonderful place. I picture you having a little spot “Beth’s Coffee Shop” 🙂 where all the siesta’s can gather and gab, with no issues!
Love it and too funny! I love people watching and trying to guess what makes people act the way they do. I just don’t know how you stopped yourself from starting a conversation.
I can talk to my mom and my best girlfriends on the phone FOREVER a couple days a week. We are never without something to talk about. My DH does not get that at all. He recently deployed and getting him to call his family before he left was just painful. He loves his family and all but talking on the phone? He would rather walk on glass.
I vividly remember when we first married and I was on my home from work late one day. I called him and asked if he wanted to order pizza for dinner and then proceeded to tell him which place to call and what to order- he opted for making a sandwich rather than having to call. Praise God for internet ordering now LOL!
I have loved reading about all of the wedding. Thank you for sharing with us. I watched you this wednesday morning and you were talking about getting your PARTY on. I had to chuckle because I just knew you and your friends and family had just had some fabulous party time that without a doubt Jesus was present for!!!
Thanks for the laugh. It does make me wonder about the guys though….It sounds like they didn’t really know each other!! You would think they could talk the universal language of men..sports!! I may have to people watch on my next visit to Starbucks!
LOL…this is a great post. I could have not kept quiet!
This sounds like a “first date” to me!!!
Got you covered…PAMELA!!! Right siestas???
Hey, how are our other 2 sisters who needed prayer? Depressed that cuts and our sister who was asking about God.
I wrote a comment earlier, but as I was reading some of these I remembered a time a couple of months ago when my husband & I went to eat at Cracker Barrel and there were two older couples sitting at a table near us. The two ladies were sitting across from each other talking a mile a minute. The two men never said a single word to each other. (they were sitting across from each other)
I had told my husband, who had his back to them, to try to look when he could. The next thing that happened was one of the men was asleep! He sat there sound asleep with the other man just staring all around and the two women never quit talking. He slept until the waitress brought their food.
So funny!!!
Beth, tell sweet Melissa to look me up (she can contact me through my blog) if she gets needs a siesta once she moves to Atlanta. I’m about an hour north. xoxo
ok here’s awkward today – I met my brother in law at fuddruckers for lunch with my 2 and 3 year old – and the 3 year old boy is chunking balled up napkins and nearly missing the coiffed updo of a sweet lady who now thinks my child is a monster….
Being a woman does rock! I’m so thankful that you enjoy talking to us because it is a highlight for me.
So, six months until the Fiesta! Yahoo-jah!!
I know I’ve got a lot of livin’ to do between now and then, but it’s fun to have something to look forward to!
maybe I should change my screen name to something more cartoon-like. Love you Beth!!!
Amen siesta!
And seriously, there are people that don’t do coffee?
Thank you all so much for going out of your way to make us feel so involved, I know your efforts weren’t wasted on me!
All three of you are too adorable and precious!
After my wife read this to me (through her tears of laughter) with the “this is so you” look on her face, I just had to put my two cents in on the subject. God created men to be sitting around the camp fire nodding to each other in approval over the day’s hunt, drinking coffee to keep warm while they periodically make short, to the point comments; not to be sitting around some dainty joint, sipping flavored “coffee” that they were charged $7 for so you could have internet access…just ask Keith. You should have told those guys that you were saving those seats for some “Sietas” and that the real men were down the street in their 4X4 buying their coffee in the DQ drive through on their way to the ranch.
~Brad in Dallas
PS. I appreciate your encouragement to my wife. In most instances your devotions allow me to just nod in approval without having to carry on a long conversation. Keep up the good work!
The comment about the men at 27 Dresses is absolutely hysterical!!!! Made my day!
My first blog comment. So thrilled to join the group.
I, too, revel in my femaledom, but I truly believe that it made poor Eve especially susceptible to the old serpant…he knew he’d never strike up a conversation with Adam!
And I wonder, Beth, did those two dear posers argue about who was going to pay for their (quite likely plain, black, blah) coffees?
You know the conversation…we’ve all seen it, girls. “I’ll get this” “Oh, no, this is on me.” “No, nope, I’m getting this one.” And so it goes…usually if I ever hear of a fist fight I wonder if they were arguing over who was paying. 🙂
Testoterone makes me giggle!
Ohhhh, Miss Beth, now I know you are an admirable woman in ALL areas…to sit and sit and not inelegantly break into loud snickers….wow, what self-control! 🙂
When my older kids were small I remember reading an article that talked about little girls using a bazillion (ok, just an estimate, that was long ago and I forget the exact numbers!) words each day. Little boys the same age used only a few words — but made much more noise: Brrrrrrrrrrrr! Zooooooooom! EEEEEEEEE! Well, you get the idea!
So now all those little boys have grown up, I guess, and they go to Starbucks to be cool…
Thanks for sharing…it is so good to be a siesta!
Yep, I’m “glad I’m a Woman” too. That title reminds me of the book I’m reading by John & Stasi Eldredge, its called “Captivating”. God has really been working on me to “get” how much He loves ME. This book is fitting right in with that. I never really knew or understood specifically how, we as women, are made in His image. I love how just as a woman’s desire is to be pursued and loved, so is God’s.
Siestas, this is a marvelous book and I highly recommend it!…even though I am still reading on it, but really, I am just trying to chew on every thought. I love a book I can “chew on”! haha…wow, that is so lame, ok, I am obviously trying too hard here:)
Love yall! Have a great weekend!
Amen to your sentiment that you are “glad you are a woman” siesta. I had that driven home to today while I was taking care of my grandbabies. Grandson Cam, who is two, was feeling yucky, (in our house we call it the creeping crud and it can be anything from the tush, to the tum, to the top of your sinuses…but you just feel rotten) and he was whiny and cranky to boot. My sweet darling hubby brought me a coffee about 2:30 in the afternoon, (these kids don’t drink coffee, so there was no coffee maker there and I got up to late to hit starbucks on my way to their house!)and was going to stay and help with the babies. He lasted about 45 minutes of whimpering child and he was OUT of there! But you know what…those whimpering babies can be pretty darn cuddly and this little boy rarely holds still enough anymore to take a hug from his ol’ nana!
So I’m glad I’m a woman with that
God gift of patience that allows me to be o.k. with coddling a sick child and getting an extra dose of cuddling back…
Your utah siesta,
Leslie
Testing …. please excuse this entry, siestas. When I get the hang of this, I’ll join in “for real”. 🙂
I like to have died over here in Fort Worth that I wasn’t across the table from a siesta or a Beth or any siesta. I keep on asking in random Starbucks and Lifeway Bookstores, anywhere where someone looks like a siesta, “Are you a Siesta?” And most of the responses are: “Excuse me????” Someday, someone is going to jump up and down when I ask that question. I like to have died thinking you were at that table by yourself…you were probably thrilled after the wedding month. Thrilled to be authored as women with all of you. Our Author will acccomplish us all as real women. Psalm 138:8
Oh, I am SOOO glad I’m a woman!!
I do love to talk….and will with just about anyone, given the opportunity!
And hubby is just the opposite….but, yet, when he is around his friends, now he can do some talking himself!! 🙂
I know I already posted here once, but I have to share this story. I was very nervous about going on my first short term mission trip, and freaked out when I learned that the one person going that I felt I knew had dropped out. I went to the pastor leading it (who is now like a big brother to me and one of my very best friends!) and told him that I didn’t know anybody and was anxious. He grabbed my arm and walked me to a group of women, pulled one of them aside and said “Becky Jo this is Carol. Carol, this is Becky Jo.” We exchanged hi’s and then he looked at me and said “there, now you know someone” and walked away. I followed after him saying “no … now I know someone’s NAME!!!!!” That poor man, I think I just plain frustrated him into having a conversation with me on that trip – which is when we became friends!!
Oh, by the way … Carol is now one of my best friends too!!! Seems a Taco Cabana in El Paso (on the way to Mexico) which led into a simultanious, rousing rendition of Copa Cabana was just what we needed to start a coversation that lasted the entire week!!!
We are woman … hear us chat!
My husband is always walking up to me in a store and asking, “Do you know her?”. I which I almost always respond, “Do I have to know her to talk to her?”
Thanks for sharing your life with us.
Oh by the way, I met your sister (Sandra)in Wal Mart. I wanted to tell her I was your BFF but refrained. She probably thought I was nutty enough!