Setting Yourself Up for Hospitality

Setting Yourself Up for Hospitality

Hospitality doesn’t have to happen at home. You can love people with your life at work, at church, in shelters, in restaurants, in other people’s homes, even over the phone.
When most of us think of hospitality, though, we think of welcoming others into our homes. And the place where you live is one of your most powerful and important hospitality tools.

But the question is: Are you ready to do hospitality at home? What would you say if I suggested you have your minister and his or her family over for dinner on Thursday or let your teenaged daughter have a slumber party this weekend? Does your mind immediately shift into panic mode as you think of all the reasons you’re just not ready for company?

If that’s true, I’d say you’re very normal. I totally unerstand! But I’d also urge you to give some thought to what would make you more comfortable about inviting people into your home.

Yes, I’m talking about cleaning (ugh) And decorating (fun) And getting organized (not so much) And cooking (YES!)

But before any of these, I’m talking about adjusting your mind and heart to think, “come in.” And to do that, you need to be intentional. You need to think ahead, to do some planning—not just planning for a specific event, but adjusting your life so that hospitality isn’t such a big hurdle. This is what I call setting yourself up for hospitality. It’s arranging your home, your life, your schedule, and your thinking so the prospect seems a little less daunting and you’re more likely to actually do it.

Think about it. Wouldn’t you be more likely to invite someone over if you didn’t have to spend the entire week before scrubbing floors or hunting down recipes? Wouldn’t you be more likely to invite someone home on the spur of the moment if the breakfast dishes were washed and your family room didn’t look like something exploded in it and you had something in the pantry you knew how to whip up on the spur of the moment?

That’s what I want to talk about in my next few posts—getting to the point where concerns about your home don’t hold you back from being hospitable. It really isn’t hard—and it’s fun.