A Collection of Thoughts: Hospitality

Sometimes there are seasons with little to no original thought. 

It's not a writer's block per say, or even the fear of being inferior to the words of someone else who said it better.  

It's a season where the shared introspection of friends leaves your mind so quietly entertained, that you'd rather just sit and enjoy the words of others.  There's a time to share and a time to listen.  

Well I've been listening for a while...reflecting on the reflections of other people.  So I thought I would bless you with a little 2015 gift - a collection of others processing their thoughts.  This talented writing bunch are my sisters in Christ even though only one of them is someone I have actually chatted over coffee with.  The others I've only interacted with through their blogs/books, but you get the idea...we're all technically friends in the grand scheme of things.

2014 began with a vow to learn how to WAIT.  But I guess it's fair to say it really only lasted until around June when I started reading books on keeping a home and all my consuming thoughts were averted to another word entirely:

Hospitality

I wrestled with this word for months to try and figure it out for what it means in Christ and not in Pinterest.  Challenging concept nowadays, but the more I read and learned, the more I realized how much depth there was to this word.  The point is to highlight the thoughts of my friends, so please click on the links to read their insight.  Enjoy!

1. Decorating is not the enemy, but perfection might be. 

My journey began with the freeing words of truth from The Nesting Place.  My soul needed this encouragement and each chapter inspired me to take bold risks.  Not only that, but it liberated me to continue switching up my throw pillows and exchanging frames on my gallery wall with wild abandon.  My joy was bringing Him glory, so who cares if people with different passions didn't understand it?  I highlighted like crazy, passed the book on to a few people, and even reread it twice.  When you find joy in decorating, there is freedom to use places like Pinterest as a launch pad of inspiration and not intimidation.

"It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful" - The Nester

2. Intentional living makes room for genuine hospitality.

Then it shifted to the words of Tsh Oxenrider in Organized Simplicity as she encouraged her readers to seek out simplicity as if it were your dying breath.  Clutter, busy schedules, and happenstance routine can take away from how your family desires to live.  I doodled so many quotes from this book and still refer to it as a way to focus on living holistically within the purpose of our family. Highly recommended.

"Our life is frittered away by detail...Simplify, simplify." - Henry David Thoreau

3. Your home should REFLECT and DISTRIBUTE the love of Christ.

So then on the topic of finding the purpose for your family, I came across this gem.  One of the most truth-filled convicting quotes I have read on the blog-o-sphere (yes, that's apparently a term) is this: 

"The primary purpose of a home is to reflect and distribute the love of Christ.  Anything that usurps that is idolatrous." - Ann Voskamp

Amen.  Thankful for these bold words to help awaken my heart.

 

4.  Be hospitable to yourself and let others be that for you as well.

The day that I happened to read this blog (also the author of "The Nesting Place"), I was so exhausted from exerting my energies with hosting some sort of event.  I love, crave, and find so much fulfillment in parties and gatherings, but need to remember to REST properly afterward.  I think we all need to remember this truth to be hospitable and let ourselves just....oh I don't know...stare at a blank wall for 30 minutes (true story).  Let your home love on you.  

"If my home isn't a place for me to rest, be, learn, hide and grow, then it will never be that place for others, no matter how passionate I am about it." - The Nester

And sometimes we need to allow other people (not just TV show actors) to be hospitable to us.  Sometimes this can look like your sister coming half-way around the world to visit when it actually just turns into nursing your family back to health for a week.  Sometimes it means having a helper in your house so you can have the four hands you always wanted.  Whatever it is, there is freedom in being able to accept hospitality when you have nothing to offer in return.  When we let others love on us, it allows them to extend the hands and feet of Christ.  Hospitality is meant to come full circle, so why not let others experience the joy of blessing us?

"Today, I want to invite you to share those stories you've tucked away, fearful they'll expose your desperate need for help in the foreign place where you live." - M'Lynn Taylor

5. We need to stop making excuses.

Now I am completely guilty of this.  When I was teaching I pretty much made excuses for the entire four years of why I was too busy to have people over.  Whether it's because we don't know how to cook, or our house is too small, or we don't have time, we will find a reason to not be hospitable to others.  My dear friend M'Lynn couldn't have put her thoughts more clear to encourage us to move beyond our excuses and see that hospitality needs to be taken out of the typical mold.   For if "generosity breeds hospitality, then hospitality breeds community."  And if community is Christ's desire, that should ultimately be ours as well.

"Sure enough, before I know it, next week, next month or next year is upon me and I haven't deepened my relationship with anyone because I'm just not paying that much attention." - M'Lynn Taylor

6. It begins in the heart so we can be a people of audacious invitation.

Hospitality is something that begins in the heart.  It it the ability to invite and have an openness to those around  you as you extend love, no matter the circumstances.  I myself had to break out of my mold that "hospitality" just looks like having people over for dinner.  It is the ability for my heart to welcome others to the love of Christ even when I'm not gathered around a table, or even in my home at all.

 "It's not only hosting dinner parties on special occasions with people we know, but embracing a posture of the heart to welcome even - and especially - those we don't." - SRT  

 7.  Your besties are awesome, but being hospitable like Jesus sometimes has a different guest list.

I am not the type that is a fan of awkward situations and long blank pauses.  I'm getting better at it, but mainly because I'm realizing that loving like Jesus brings in all sorts of people and personalities.  This blog opened my eyes to seek out the people that can't/won't give anything in return, or maybe even drive me a little crazy.  Let's face it, we are all probably that person to someone ;). 

"Let's model the Great Inviter, match our intentions with His, and swing wide open the doors of our hearts and homes to those who are like us and those who aren't.  This is the way of the Kingdom.  This is hospitality."  - Raechel Myers

Is there anything you have read lately on the topic of hospitality that you'd like to add to the collection?  Let's continue spurring one another on in love and truth!