by Kimberly | Oct 26, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality
Think of hospitality for just a moment – what comes to your mind?
Southern Living?
Wrap around porches with rocking chairs?
Coffee mugs?
A bundt cake or chocolate chip cookies?
Sweet Tea?
Pottery Barn guest bedrooms?
A cozy bed and breakfast?
All of these things are great – and can be used in hospitality – but none of them define hospitality.
All month I’ve thought about how to define hospitality and I’m still working on it, but here is a working definition:
Hospitality seeks to welcome others with lavish grace without a hint of self-interest.
Wow – yup, this is super tough. And none of us will ever be the perfect hospitable hosts. Never – because we are prideful people. But, thankfully, One was completely hospitable and makes a way for us to pursue Him.
We can practice hospitality through the lens of the Gospel, praying that God would use us to welcome others, to be a rest for others, to encourage others.
Quote from C. J. Mahaney Humility
by Kimberly | Oct 24, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality
Hospitality isn’t all about how your house looks or how much nice stuff you have lining your walls or what style sofa or table you have. Now, don’t get me wrong – I love all the stuff. I really enjoy making my home look good – put together.
I want this table so bad, but it is not in our budget.
This loveseat for our library/den would be amazing – not in our budget right now.
I would love this oversized chair for our master and a new tv for our living room (so we could mount our smaller tv in our master) – but not in our budget.
I would love finish off the kitchen in our new house to my exact liking – but its not in our budget right now.
I’ve been reading Little House on the Prairie books to my older before bed. We are a little bit into Farmer Boy. I’m coming to realize how different Laura and Almonzo were raised. They weren’t in the same economic sphere.
But, that didn’t seem to matter. And now it shouldn’t matter either.
Hospitality can be a can of beans and rice. It can be homemade bread or chips and guacamole. It can be a glass of water or a cup of coffee.
Hospitality is meant to be welcoming and gracious – not necessarily expensive.
Quote taken from Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House in the Ozarks
by Kimberly | Oct 23, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality
I am a better multitasker than my husband. He will definitely admit this. Usually I think this is a positive trait – and it certainly comes in handy since we have littles. But, I don’t know if it is always the best way to be hospitable.
When we have guests in our home I am often running around finishing a meal, setting the table, making sure my children are behaving, etc.
Here’s what I long to be: I long to be so well organized and hospitable that I can stop doing whatever it is I’m doing and pay attention. Like deep attention. Not creepy stalker attention, but God-like attention.
I want to pay attention to my husband.
I want to pay attention to my children.
I want to pay attention to my friends.
In our technology-infused world this is hard. I can be listening to my husband, reading a text, and cooking dinner all at the same time. And truthfully, I head what he is saying and can repeat it back to him. But, that isn’t hospitable attention.
How can we savor our relationships so that we delight in giving them our full attention?
Quote from Mike Cosper’s Recapturing the Wonder
by Kimberly | Oct 23, 2017 | 31days, Books, lavish hospitality
Friendship is such an avenue for hospitality.
And you know it well:
Think of the friend that you can just pop in and see and it doesn’t matter what their house looks like or what they are wearing. I read in a study recently that teenagers have more of a self-image problem because of selfies – you could just hang out and not care what you look like, but now everyone is doing instastories and selfies all the time – you have to always care what you look like.
Think of the friend that you text or call first when something hurts you. Or when there is something to rejoice over!
Think of the friends that you text or call when there is a crisis and you need prayer. I know I have a short text list of ladies I know who will pray for me as soon as I text them.
Think of the friend that you want to share your struggles with – whether they are struggles in your marriage, in parenting, or in your business.
Friendships like these don’t come along all the time. And they also don’t come by way of social media.
These types of friendships take countless hours interacting, journeying life together, sitting in coffee shops, skyping or talking on the phone, or pulling up a barstool to the kitchen counter.
Quote from Maggie Brendan’s new book Trusting Grace
by Kimberly | Oct 21, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality, mothering
What is the goal of motherhood?
You know what – I don’t know. I don’t have all the answers.
Basically – here is what I think the goal of motherhood it is.
With God’s grace, shepherd your children to see their need of Him. If along the way you teach them how to do well in school, be model citizens, grow up to be a great wife or husband, be honorable, then they are good side effects.
But, the goal of motherhood is to point them to their Creator. And point them is all we can do. That has been the hardest thing for me to come to grips with – I can’t save my kids. Only God can save my kids.
And, if we attempt to put on a mask of motherhood perfection – we are not being hospitable. Not to ourselves, our kids, our husbands, or our friends. We will only let ourselves down.
Quote from Beyond Bath Time by Erin Davis
by Kimberly | Oct 21, 2017 | 31days, lavish hospitality, parenting
Write31 update: I was going to write this post last night after our trip to Stone Mountain. But, even though we were home at a normal time, got the tired boys in bed after a quick bath and family worship, I just didn’t have it in me. Two days of eating a lot of carbs and stress of an all day trip, with Hashimoto’s I’m learning I have to slow down when I need to.
So, you are getting two posts today. I hope you don’t mind!
I am a mom of two preschool boys. They used to be newborns, then babies, then toddlers, and now in preschool. We have made it through every stage with naps, netflix, and mostly the grace of God.
But, one way that sabotaged every minute of my parenting is comparison. Comparison for when my kids walked or talked. Comparison in whether I was breast-feeding or making my own baby food. Comparison as to whether I was using cloth diapers or Huggies. Comparison on how fast my kids are reading or playing well with others or climbing on the big slides all by themselves. Comparison on if they scored goals during their first soccer game.
And I know the comparisons just keep coming. It doesn’t stop when they reach kindergarten or middle school or college.
And comparison is anything but hospitable. It isn’t gracious to yourself as a mom (or a wife or a woman). It isn’t hospitable to your other mom friends. So, just don’t do it. Its hard. But, rely more on the fact that God has created you to be the Mom that you are to the kids that you have right now. And He will give you the grace to complete your task!
Quote from Sharon Hodde Miller’s Free of Me.
