Hospitality is one of those passions of mine.  I highly value community and so it is no surprise I LOVE getting together with other families.  Over the years as our family has grown, hospitality has been one of those practices that has not been as purposefully frequent as other seasons; and unfortunately many people do not excited about the thought of having a large family over either.  I have heard “We would just love to have you over, but we don’t know where we would put everyone” so many times.    The unfortunate reality is that hospitality in general has not been purposefully taught or practiced regularly today.  I too have been guilty of this.

It is so easy for life to quickly become all about us and our “busy” lives.  So much so, that we miss the fruit that comes from serving in this way.  Fellowship and allowing people to know you deeply is God’s design for the body to function.  We need to be meeting together and breaking bread together regularly.  When we meet together, we need to be purposeful in our time together, making a point to engage in conversations that are going to be stimulating and encouraging one another toward a deeper relationship with Christ… and in turn He will bless you with a like-minded strength system, a community, a family, the Family of God.

In this months edition of Eternal Encouragement Magazine, focused on this topic of Hospitality.  In it, Laurie is very honest about she herself has struggled with hospitality from time to time, because WE ALL DO!  Even those of us, who love community.  “I let my fear of not having everything just so keep me from following the Lord’s prompting or my husband’s requests…Hospitality is not about me.  It’s About showing Christ’s love by serving and blessing others.  It’s not about personal gain or showing off my homemaking talents and decorating skills. It’s about honoring God and Giving Him Glory.”

“Hospitality is to be our Priority.”  This so hits the nail on the head doesn’t it?  I read somewhere just last week, about friendships… if you feel like you don’t have any close friends who know you… look at how much time you spend with friends.  The point was this, friendships, relationships, all take time.  A relationship with Jesus takes time.  We as a people of God need to take the time, make it a priority, or other time-consuming events will fill up our schedule.  I was so convicted by this in particular.  In the past I used to be so good with Hospitality, now a days, with home schooling and all the other life commitments it has been too easy to say, I don’t have time right now, maybe next month.

You know what occurred to me today?  Hospitality was one of those topics I have been super passionate about for many years, and here I stand guilty of having been too busy the past few months.  I am trying to give grace to myself bc we have been traveling, but let’s be real here… isn’t that the problem.  Having too much grace, making excuses?  I hate excuses!

Alright getting off topic here… the Point is we all need to purpose to be hospitable.  It is our calling as christians.  We need to be teaching and training our children on how to be hospitable by DOING.  Other wise they are not going to be prepared for this when they grow up.  If we are consumed with having the house look spik n’ span before any guests arrive, we are setting up our children for failure in their expectations as adults on this topic as well.  We need to teach them by our example ~WELL!

So in conclusion, as a Gabby Mom for EE, I have been given a free Magazine to review, this was my review.  I thought it was a fantastic magazine, well worth my time.  THis particular article got me thinking… deeply.  We all need that and sometimes in nugget from.  I am excited to try to keep these in my car so that as I am headed into a dr’s appointment or something I have something that has a bunch of short and fast but meaty articles to read through.

Enjoy and God Bless,

Angie

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