Embracing the Gift of Hospitality
I thought hospitality would come easily for me. Mom entertained often, and I watch what she did. Often I helped.
However, Mom made the job appear easy. When I got married and moved two hundred miles away from home, I found myself making mistakes.
When we first married, hospitality meant having couples for dinner.
For instance, once when I had guests, which happened to be family, I intended to make iced tea and Kool-aide. However, I talked while I worked because I thought talking was entertaining, I poured the two drinks together. That make me feel like a crazy person.
My husband loved having people over, but I had to do all the work.
First, I had to plan the meal, worrying about whether it was good enough. In fact, in those early years out budget was so tight I couldn’t afford to do it often because I spent more on the meal.
Second, I’d scour the apartment, worrying about what our
guests would think about my decorating and my organization.
Last, I would have to wash all the dishes afterwards, which was a bigger mess since I had done more work than usual. Because I wanted everything to be perfect, I stopped having people for dinner.
Hospitality was huge in the early church because they met in homes. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and prayer.” Acts 2:42
Hospitality is also included in the qualifications for elders, so God wants us to open our homes.
Today my guest is Michelle Lazurek who wrote, An Invitation to the Table, Embracing the Gift of Hospitality. She shares how it changed her life.
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