Memories Of Hospitality

"Hospitality should have no other nature but love." ~ Unknown

My memories of Sunday afternoon lunch (Dinner as my Grandma would call it) are filled with my Grandma’s home cooking, being surrounded by my family and always having a new friend or another church family around an elegant table. I can still recall the formal dining area all set up with her dishes and a nice tablecloth. I can almost smell the Pot Roast, Mash Potatoes and Gravy, Corn, Snap Beans with just a touch of bacon, cooked Carrots, Rolls, sliced tomatoes, a pickle dish, and also my favorite --Banana Pudding!

I think it is because my Grandparents did everything with love, and the fact that they had the knack of including people that needed to feel included, that I still have these memories so etched in my heart. I can definitely say that my Grandma used her home to be a place where she taught the values of a loving God and used her home to serve people. She showed me that a home should be a place of flexibility and used for God’s purposes. And although it might not be the 1st place that I learned the art of hospitality, her home definitely is a memory that returns more frequently than any other.

I believe the biggest lesson that I learned was that hospitality is practiced by extending (1st) to your husband (my grandma woke up every morning and served my Grandpa breakfast) (2nd) to her children and grand children (all of us girls loved her to sew for us) (3rd) and then to those that God places in her primary care. (Church family, neighbors, etc---She was a Pastor’s wife so she ministered to many).

My second lesson that I learned from my Grandma about hospitality is that my home doesn’t need to be like everyone else’s, that I can be different. I don’t have to have the same things that others have, to express my unique taste, and for my home to be lovely. The bottom line is that my home needs to reflect the Grace of God. How many of us are not hospitable because we are afraid of being compared to some one else? What keeps a family from being hospitable? 1) Comparisons 2) too busy 3) I don’t have this 4) or my house doesn’t look like that. We are never to be embarrassed of God’s provision for our family.

And although it is for each family to determine what God has called each family to do. It is in your home where you should establish your priorities to accomplish that mandate.

Hospitality is a command by God and qualifications to be a leader in the church is to be hospitable. This hit me like a ton of bricks the other day. I began to think about the leaders in my Church, are they hospitable? Who in my life has practiced hospitality? And how have I benefited from them being obedient to God?And how do I practice hospitality anyway?These are just some of the questions that I asked myself. I have been blessed by many wonderful friendships over the years. And those that I grieved over due to them moving away or me moving, were the friends that reached out to me in a hospitable way. It is in remembering these friendships and my Grandmother’s example that I felt a tug in my heart--- God saying “They were a model for you! Now, reach out!”