Today’s catch phrase is:

Show heartfelt hospitality.

Hospitality- does that word scare you or excite you? It used to terrify me. I was the girl who sat in college home economics classes and worried about how I would ever remember the details of being a hostess. Then things came full circle and I had the opportunity {or was it a mortally fearful time?} to actually host my former Home Ec. teacher! Um, twice.

While I was tempted to be uptight, I decided to do the opposite. Relax and be myself. Serve up a meal in buffet style in the original cooking pots. Use my everyday mismatched, dollar store table decor.

Forget to put forks out.

She even got to see my very disorganized all-purpose room when she asked me if she could do a load of laundry.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter that everything was perfect if heart needs weren’t met.

Hospitality is all about heart.

That’s why inconvenient, impromptu hospitality is the best kind. Fearful, yes. But if you’ve ever followed the prompting of God and invited someone over while pushing back images of what the house looks like and wondering what kind of leftovers to serve to them….well, then you’ve just shown true hospitality. And I bet you have a story of something amazing that God did that day. I sure do- those have turned out to be some of my fondest ministry memories!

I’ve {surprisingly} found over the years that I enjoy hosting large crowds at open house events even more than having single families over. It really tends to be the same amount of work, so why not just have a gang over? And then there are those precious one-on-one times when we open our hearts to another in need of hospitality. It’s not always about food and drink and pretty placemats and scented candles.

But it IS always about the heart.

So, no matter where you find yourself in life or ministry, keep your eyes open for opportunities to

Show heartfelt hospitality.