Hospitality's Purpose

Our home has been open a lot lately... and to a lot of different people... and for a lot of different reasons. We don't mind at all that our home has become a sort of "kool aid" house for the young adults in our lives... we absolutely love having them over. But after sitting up until 4:30 this morning with a couple of them (Brian made it all the way through the entire night with them... I couldn't last), I sit here today and I can honestly barely muster enough energy and clear thought to spell my own name. Through the fog of my fatigue, God brought a couple of thoughts to mind.

The first thing is the subject of hospitality. I discovered a blog this morning called The Purple Cellar and found an article about hospitality that I really enjoyed reading. The blog author, Lydia, writes about her friend Susie who personifies hospitality. Here's what she writes:

Susie defines two distinct types of hospitality, both of which we should prepare our hearts to offer. First is calculated ospitality, which includes hosting our friends, making meals for the sick--basically, the sort we can plan ahead. The second type is spontaneous hospitality, which is opening our home and heart to that drop-in neighbor or friend who calls at an inconvenient time. How we handle spontaneous hospitality is a matter of mindset, of putting others ahead of our personal comfort. But that doesn't mean there aren't great rewards for such service: generosity comes back on our heads! But, primarily, every time we open our homes and hearts to someone in need, it is Jesus we are serving. Do we think about that? Do we see today's interruption or inconvenience as an opportunity to love Christ? Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (Matt. 5:40).

I love the description of spontaneous hospitality as "a matter of mindset, of putting others ahead of our personal comfort." Click here to read the rest of the article.

The second thing came to me as I was thinking about Colossians 1:28-29 which says,

"Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that He powerfully works within me."

As I struggle to keep my eyes open today, I can know that our toil was done in an effort to proclaim Christ! Knowledge of this causes a surge of energy to coarse through my body... maybe I can actually make it through the rest of the day!