Hospitality at its sweetest

Today's BLT Challenge: Invite a friend over to your house

I've accepted that my blog isn't a popular place but today's truth and challenge of loveliness is one I bring to you because I love you deeply. I can't help it. My heart literally aches to see women living out what God called women to be. I lay awake at night crying about relationships in my life because I've tasted what God made good, I've seen beautiful friendships flourish, I've seen women blossom in who they were made to be.

I've now lived in Minnesota for 5 years and being a stay home wife then mom, I've spent many hours immersed in the culture. I've spent many hours volunteering at different places, serving in churches, building friendships, observing city life, going to countless kid zones, meeting other moms and the ONE THING by far hands down that I have seen in this culture (and my guess is it's not the only state like this so I'm not generalizing here) is I've seen and met some of the loneliest, isolated people and yet they also relate at arms length, Minnesota nice, and won't let you close to them. 

Recently, an older, wiser family friend of ours warned me that satan was going to attack PRAYER and HOSPITALITY now more than ever, and it was a lightbulb moment for me. It couldn't be more true. People are lonely and guarded, and that makes hospitality close to impossible. When did sharing a simple meal together become so complicated? When did inviting others over become so over-analyzed? When did people stop living in community together and start going through their weeks very individual and isolated? 

I urge you and encourage you to invite a friend over. Bee Lovely to another, love your neighbor as yourself. You may be that friend's only hope in her week. Make every Thursday the night you invite a family over for dinner or every Monday morning a friend over for coffee. If you're too busy? Cut things out of your schedule. If you're over-committed to schedules? Say no to things. It is by far the most devastating to a friendship to be over busy with a more important scheduled week that doesn't even matter in the grand scheme of life.

Make space in your week to stay home so you can say yes to those last minute things.

What if you made love a habit? How would your week look different?!?

Friendship should be your top priority. Loving your neighbor. Hospitality at its sweetest.

Serve coffee and a cookie, light a candle and call it sweet. 

Work for friendships, fight for your friends, deeply love them, relationships are what matters, everything else is meaningless, for we have a short time in this life to blossom and work for what matters and then we're but a vapor.

 

As for man, his days are like grass;
    he BLOSSOMS like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
    and its place knows it no more.

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
    and his righteousness to children's children,

to those who keep his covenant
    and remember to do his commandments. 

 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
    and his kingdom rules over all.

Psalm 103:15-19