Photo Source: www.creationswap.com by Kelly Sikkema
It was great having friends over Sunday afternoon for a late lunch after church. My wife and I both enjoy showing the gift of hospitality. And hospitality of course means food. And it means opening up our home to our guests. In our disconnected world, even in the church, taking the time for that personal connection can mean so much. But is that the only way we can show hospitality?
Sunday dinner at my home growing up was always a chance for us to have people over for the day. We had a lot of single guys in our church, being a Navy town at the time. And young guys in the Navy always appreciated a home-cooked meal.
Mom usually had something in the crock-pot or a casserole in the oven. We didn’t have a large house and a huge dining room table, but we always seemed to have just enough room.
Now as an adult with a home of my own, it’s my turn. My wife and I both enjoy having people over and hosting our friends, both new and old. We love opening up our home, sharing a meal together, talking and getting to know one another better. This weekend as we invited some friends over for lunch after church we also took the opportunity to invite some new friends in the making.
It can be difficult sometimes, inviting someone you just met into your home, both for you and for them. A restaurant is certainly a much more “safe” place for lunch after church, but you lose some of the connection and the personal nature of having someone come to your house, sit on your couch, and get into your fridge.
Not everyone cooks, and not everyone has a home that they can invite people into, but hospitality is a character trait that can manifest itself in more than having someone over for dinner. It’s really nothing more than fulfilling the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Hospitality can be letting someone in the grocery store line go in front of you when you have a ton of stuff and they only have one item. It can be holding the door for a stranger as you come into church. Or it can be inviting a stranger into your home.
We change and grow and develop character one small decision at a time. And hospitality is a trait that we could use a little more of in this world. My wife and I are going to do what we can when we can. How about you?