Thoughts for a new year...

With every new year I always try to set some new goals for myself. One goal I have been aiming for each year for the past 6-7 years is to be more deliberate about the ministry of hospitality. The Bible is clear about this but if I do not set goals for myself it just never happens. That is how it is with any goal whether it is weight loss, exercise, reading the Bible, or budgeting our money. Getting back to hospitality, there are many scripture passages about it in the New Testament. "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling." (1 Peter 4:8-10) is a good one or "Practice hospitality." (Romans 12:13). There are many more, just look it up. It is surprising, really.

The easiest way I know to do this minitry is to plan to invite a different person or family into our home each month. That equates to 12 per year. That may seem small or large depending on your mindset. With the busyness of families these days and the cost of food (feeding a family of six plus others is not cheap), 12 seems to be a number that is reachable for our family. I was thinking if everyone in our church had this same goal and 100 families had 12 families into their homes this year that 1200 new bonds would be formed! WOW!!! Can you imagine that?

I used to just invite people with whom I already had good relationships (friends and family). Those invites are now added to the 12 new ones because inviting new and different people really puts me outside of my comfort zone. It stretches me. God seems to ask things like that a lot of me these days.

This past year I got really slack and did not do much of this hospitality thing past about August. I just got busy and compalcent (that equates to selfish and lazy). I have vowed to get back on track with this plan. I have a LONG list of people to invite!

You may ask, "Why do you need to have people over to your house? Don't you see them at work or church or wherever?" I used to think this same way but there is something special about having someone in your home. It really blesses people when they see you care enought to have them into your "space" and want to spend time with them. (as a side note: eating at a restaurant is nice and I appreciate when folks buy us a meal but I love visiting in the home even more.)

This whole hospitality thing used to be very difficult for me because I stressed a lot about my house being clean or the food being served, but in this journey I have learned not to care so much about those things because most people do not care about my house or whether I feed them a 7 course meal. They just want the fellowship and to know that my family cares.

I am also going to try something new this year. I plan to invite people over for just snacks or desserts. I have very fond memories of my childhood when my parents used to go over to friends' homes to have cake or something after church on Sunday night. We used to have such fun and I don't ever remember what we ate but I do remember having a wonderful time.

With all of that said, we live in a day where we are busy and have so much going on that we often miss out on getting to know our brothers and sisters in Christ because we are running the "rat race" of life. People really don't care how big our homes are or how nice our furniture is. What matters is that we want to spend time together. There is an unexplainable bond that forms when you invite people into your home.

I love to visit people's homes in our church it helps me know them and relate to them so much better. I don't know why but it does. It makes me feel like those people love me and my family. I hope that is how people feel when they come to my home.

Maybe hospitality will be a new project for you this year too. You may say that it is not your "thing." I used to say it was not my "thing" too, but God's commands must be our "thing." Some things are not optional. Hopefully at the end of 2012, I will have been more obedient in the ministry of hospitality than I was in 2011. I guess that is what really matters.