by Kimberly | Oct 13, 2017 | kcreatives photography, newborn
I had the privilege of spending the day with this little bundle of pink, her mama, and her extended family this week. I’ve known here Mama now for 17 years in January. We’ve studied and cooked together, lived in the same dorm together, taken many midnight walks together, rode bikes together, been across the world together. We used to be neighbors in ATL, but now we live just a couple hours apart.
Our kids are like siblings – where most of the time they get along. Can’t wait to watch this little one grow.
Here are just some of her session with me that day. You are loved, baby Emmy.
by Kimberly | Oct 13, 2017 | 31days, food, lavish hospitality
On a post about food, and it is my son’s birthday, and I’m not cooking anything. Nope. We are going out for donuts, then going to a fun lunch, picking up his Publix birthday cake, then going to a friends for small group. I’m getting off easy.
But, sitting around a table is more than just food. Yes, I love to cook. One of the ways I learned to cook was from my mom being disabled and unable to much of my growing up. So, she would tell me what to do and I would cook it. Or I learned it from watching my Granny and Papa or learning how to scale fish and cook a mean french fry at the Suwannee River with weeks away with my Papa.
But, I learned to love to cook for others when I got to know a family in college. I got to be a part of their celebratory meals and their every day meals. Knowing recipes that family members loved. Knowing what would please the ones they loved. Sitting down at a table in their home and talking for house over good food and good wine. Or just good old sweet tea.
The meal is more than just food. It is life for the soul of many.
Quote from The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer.
by Kimberly | Oct 12, 2017 | 31days, Bible, lavish hospitality
There are times I fail at hospitality. And, yes, fail is a strong word. Most will probably say just practicing it is enough, but for me, I want to do it right. So, there is often a struggle between doing it and doing it well.
I’m a number 3 with a 2 wing on the Enneagram. I like to be known and loved and be needed and always seem to be giving my resume. But, I hate the fear of rejection. Rejection and me do not get along.
The last 6 years I’ve had the most love I’ve ever known (husband, 2 boys), but I’ve also experienced the most rejection and dislike in my life. It has been some incredibly lonely times. Filled with so many tears.
I remember just one little example of this. I was hosting a meeting of ladies in my home. I love to bake. And I make these delicious and beautiful cupcakes. I had spent all afternoon making them (with a toddler and baby). One person ate a bite, no one else had any. I wanted to cry the whole meeting. When my husband arrived home, I threw them in the trash. He didn’t even get to taste one.. When you work on something creatively for someone, have others reject it, its really a rejection of yourself.
So, the past few months, I have really been taking that rejection and placing it on Christ. Where I need to sit and dwell in is his everlasting, never-rejecting love for me. I’m his beloved. He will never let me go. He will hold me fast.
When we welcome others in our loves, in our home, not rejecting them – we will be a piece of Christ to them. In order to show them the Gospel. To let them dwell in the love of Jesus.
More on this Psalm in The Songs of Jesus by Tim Keller
by Kimberly | Oct 12, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality
I grew up in a small Primitive Baptist Church in a small town in central Florida. I accepted Christ early and started participating as a member in my church. We did feet washing. I remember washing feet and having my feet washed. I remember kneeling and getting the towel wet.
Now, we don’t do feet washing in the churches I’ve been a part of, but I will tell you some of the most meaningful Lord Suppers.
In Louisville, I went to a church where the Lord’s Supper was practiced every week, tied wholly into the sermon each week (the Gospel), and we actually broke bread (tore off pieces from one loaf) and could dip the bread either into the wine or the juice (in goblets). The community of believers served each other each week. Here some meaningful aspects:
- Believers serving believers. Community with the Lord’s Supper. First with Christ because He gave himself for us, then we other believers who have put their faith in Jesus too.
- Tearing off the bread. The body of Jesus was a real body. He was bloody. He had thorns on his head. The little wafer that I’ve mostly had in life isn’t as much of a replication of it. But, there is something about tearing off the bread that is more symbolic of what happened on the cross 2000 years ago.
- Wine. (If you have personal reflections on alcoholic intake, I’m not saying you should go partake with wine at the Lord’s Supper. Where there is freedom, there is love). I’m not a dry red wine fan. But, when taking the Lord’s Supper, and you are drinking sweet grape juice, it again misses the symbolic mark for me. When I dip the torn bread in a cup of bitter wine, the wine hits my tongue and almost makes me wince…it highlights the bitter nature of the cross.
And this table, the Lord’s table, reminds me most of a time when I can sit at the table with Him in Heaven, my feet covered with brilliant fine linens, no one seeing my faithlessness, my rebellion, but all seeing the love and beauty of Christ.
Quote from John Frame, Systematic Theology, found in Habits of Grace by David Mathis.
by Kimberly | Oct 12, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality
When people come to our house to spend the night, whether visiting for several days, or just overnight, I like to know what they like and have it for them.
I like to make foods they will eat or a special coffee they will enjoy. I like to have little gifts ready for them in the room they are staying in. I want them to feel welcome and loved. And often times, for most people, gifts make them feel welcome.
This part of hospitality doesn’t have to be extravagant, believe me, hello Dollar Spot at Target!! The best thing is to be thoughtful. Preparing your home to be hospitable is an easy task, just be mindful of it.
I know a couple that has a gift room. They buy things on sale, Black Friday sales, TJMaxx, for just this reason. To be able to give gifts, or to be able to be hospitable throughout the year through gift-giving.
With Christmas right around the corner, you may have more opportunities to practice this. Don’t be overwhelmed and don’t stress the budget. It can be as simple as having your kids draw a picture welcoming them. Or picking flowers from the yard. Just something that says welcome.
Quote from Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus (Charles Spurgeon) in a collaboration book by Nancy Guthrie.
