Open Door Policy

I love inviting people into my home.

I was reminded of this today when I read a post over at the (in)Courage blog called "Confessions of a Hospitality Hater". The very first line really struck me; the author (Heather) wrote:

"Why do I often close my doors, staying hidden behind the excuses: The children are loud, the house is a mess, the food is basic, and growing up my family never had anyone over?"

Why did this opening line particularly strike me? Because I am so very much the exact opposite of that. Show up unexpected at my door? It's fine, just give me a second to brush my hair and throw on some deodorant so I don't stink. Then be prepared for me to offer you drinks, popcorn, leftovers, a seat on our couch, porch, deck... doesn't matter to me. I might "apologize" for a messy floor, a couple of dishes in the sink, or the fact that I forgot to clean the bathroom this week... but truthfully?

I'm glad you're here. Or there. Whatever the right word is.

If you are closer to the personality of Heather of "Confessions of a Hospitality Hater", I wanted to encourage you a bit. God does call us to be hospitable and keep our doors open to our neighbors. In the mentioned post, she mentions checking on the verses below:

"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. 

Matthew 5:13-16, The Message

The last two sentences - "Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others you'll prompt people to open up with God..." - that's really what being hospitable is all about, isn't it? There is an old saying that everyone has heard: "Home is where the heart is" and it is SO incredibly true. When you let someone into your home, you are opening up your heart to them as well. You are most comfortable in your own home, even when there is a complete stranger or a new friend there. There is something so incredibly intimate about having someone over for even something so simple as a cup of tea.

Anyways - I love having people over and I recognize that not everyone is completely comfortable or knows how to be prepared to be hospitable even if they want to be. So... inspired by the "Confessions of a Hospitality Hater" post, I wanted to submit of my own tips. Some of these are sort of repeats of Heather's worded differently - but the message is still there;

- Always have a good stock of drinks on-hand. You can always order pizza, subs, or Chinese food if people are hungry, but drinks are difficult to get on short notice. My husband and I always have seltzer and water in the fridge and tea and coffee ready to brew. 

- Try to keep something quick to make up on-hand. Some people keep frozen cookie dough, I keep popcorn that I can make in the air-popper.  Heather mentions that the food you serve does NOT need to be complicated and I can't stress that enough either. Remember - people are there for you and your company, not your food.

- Don't worry if your house is not in perfect condition and do NOT apologize for it. Every time I've been in someone else's house I always think it's incredibly cleaner than mine and they think it's the messiest house ever. As long as you have a place for your guests to sit - even if you have to move toys or yesterday's newspaper - you're golden.

- Feeling stressed? Frazzled? Have company coming over or wanting to invite someone over? Go into your bathroom, take 3-5 slow, deep breaths. You have no idea how much this act of opening your lungs calms your soul and opens your heart. It's truly one of the best releases ever and a trick I've used a few times myself before people have come over for a visit if I've been in a bad place.

God put us on this planet to love one another, and opening our homes is an incredibly simple way that we can do this. Once love and friendship is in our homes, it's difficult for it to find its way out. So many memories are made with friends, family, and other guests that come through our homes that will make you laugh, cry, or smile in the years to come. Believe me when I tell you that it is so worth it when you open your doors to people to come in and hang out in your home and your heart.

So go ahead - take a deep breath, put a 12-pack of soda in your fridge, and invite someone over. And next time you're in my neck of the woods - stop by and say hi.

Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.

1 Peter 4:9, NLT

Turning Thirty

Tomorrow is the first day of my thirties. Last Friday I woke up and felt energized; I knew it was going to be a good week. After all - the last week of your twenties HAS to be awesome.

Friday-Saturday: I had the opportunity to attend Beth Moore's "Living Proof Live" with some amazing ladies. What a powerful evening and morning that was - there's something spectacularly moving about hearing 2800 people singing "Amazing Grace" a-capella followed by a message reminding us to keep an eye out for the treasures that God gives in life. My friend Elyse had a great blog post this week that basically encapsulated the feeling we had coming away from the event. It took a few days to sink in for me, but it was an amazing reminder for me to slow down. For me, the most powerful point that she gave the women in attendance was that "Our treasure got thrown out in the same trash as our time." What a great message it was and I hope that I do not do what is so prone to people who attend these conferences and lose the inspiration - it's so important that I don't.

Beth Moore - That shirt cracked us up, but her passion was awesome.

Sunday: In the middle of Sam's Club I got a phone call from my good friend Priscila; that evening they would be having an impromptu campfire and we should come over. What a cool thing - just a few phone calls and they had a campfire party! There were a ton of people there, lots of good food and great conversation was had by all. We stayed until a little after 10:00, but I was in awe of what a cool thing can happen with a few phone calls, some meat, and a pile of wood.

Burn, baby, burn!

Monday: I had texted a few of our students on Sunday night to see if they wanted to come over for homemade chicken soup and some girl time. What I got was an impromptu mini-birthday party! They came to the door with flowers, cake, and a card - they even lit candles that said "30" and sang "Happy Birthday". As if the awesome conversation wasn't enough - they even convinced me (read: made me hold true to my promise) to go out with them and "jam". Incase you're wondering, "jamming" is driving around with dance music playing, singing and car-dancing. Yes, I jammed. I do a mean backseat cabbage patch. You have NO IDEA. After that - I got to watch the Patriots KILL the Dolphins with a 41-14 victory. That's right. A palindrome win.

The card plays "Celebrate" - yes, I danced when I opened the card. Twice.

Tuesday: GIRLS NIGHT!!! Steve babysat our friends' two little girls for a couple of hours while my friend Laura & I kidnapped our friend Jennifer for some Mexican food, margaritas, and Coronas. It was so nice to get out and have an awesome meal with some of my closest girlfriends. That time is so valuable - and to think that I got it twice in the same week (we also had a wine & girls night after Friday's Beth Moore event) is just an awesome blessing. I value those friendships so much.

I had to leave my phone with Steve so he could call us incase anything happened (he forgot his). When I got it back, there were 2 cute kids on my wallpaper picture.

Wednesday: Nothing special happened on Wednesday. Just a bunch of cleaning. Why? Because some woman who decided to give birth to a little girl 30 years ago is coming to visit. The nerve. Make me clean my house. (Kidding - I'm actually PUMPED for my mom to come visit this weekend!!!!)

Thursday: I went to work very excited for today to be the last day of my 20's. Around 2:00, it was time for "The Coffee Train" - 3 or 4 of us women on the aisle who go and get an afternoon beverage of warmth (be it tea or coffee) at the office Keurig. When asked if I wanted to go, I said "Sure, let me just go to the ladies' room first." Upon return to my aisle of the cube farm - 6 or 7 of my co-workers jumped out of cubicles and sang "Happy Birthday"! I was presented with a cake and a card - the cake went very well with my Green Mountain French Roast decaf. This was followed up by an amazing evening at youth group - so much fun playing Charades and spending time with our staff afterwards.

"There's cake? I guess I'll stop by..."

In a few minutes I'm going to head to bed and snuggle up with my awesome husband, falling asleep in his arms and thusly ending my last week of my twenties. I'm SO incredibly excited for my thirties. A few weeks ago when I was reading through some scripture it occurred to me that Jesus started His ministry when He was thirty. Now, I'm not by any means saying that I'm going to go out and change the world - but it did give me pause and force me to think. I can do amazing things. I've gotten out of my awkward stages. I can really start life now.

Tomorrow I turn thirty. I plan on treasuring more and breezing through without attention less. Tomorrow is a new beginning, the start of a new decade and a new phase of life. I am incredibly refreshed and energized for it.

Bring it on, Thirty.

Things I Love Right Now

When I was going through my Google Reader listing this morning, I came across this post by Jessica Turner at The Mom Creative and was inspired. She posted a list of things that she's loving right now, and I am feeling a bit inspired to do the same.

Things I Love Right Now

Our Church's Renovation: Talk about dreaming a God-sized dream and having it come to reality! A couple of years ago our church started to rethink the mill space that we rent. There were meetings to determine what the needs of the ministries were and then meetings with Plain Joe Studios to design a concept and then when it came time to see if it was indeed in God's will (donations were requested)... we found out the answer. Estimated budget is/was $186,000... and pledges came in WAY above expectations to the tune of almost $180,000! It's been exciting since the construction started to see the progress every week since the first wall came down - I'm pumped to see the finished product. (Progress can be found on the blog for the project: Renovation 2010.)

Friendships: There have been a few people that I've met over the last few years that I've had the chance to get closer to over the last year or so. It's been awesome to form these new friendships and get to know some really cool people in the process. These are people I get to see fairly regularly so we get to see each other in all different stages of life and have grown pretty comfortable around each other. At the same time, I've had opportunity to reflect on those friendships I've had for a lot longer and appreciate the ability in those friendships to pick up like we've never separated when we see each other.

Me & my friend Nina at the "Life is Good" Festival

 

My Mug Warmer: Man oh man. I do love my mug warmer. I'm one of those people who drinks coffee for the flavor and not for the caffeine necessity, so the mug warmer is my best cubicle friend. I actually wrote a blog post about it once, I love it that much. No, I'm not joking. It's a hot plate for a mug that keeps your beverage warm. It's the coolest thing ever.

Being Married: There's something amazing and wonderful about waking up in the morning and knowing that the person next to you is going to be your partner in crime for the rest of your life. There's also something amazing in knowing that person will roll over and even though you were having the worst "nitch" evening of your life the night before - he will have the grace to not care, take one look at you, and give you a big hug and a kiss anyways. I love that I get to learn and grow and spend the rest of my life with my best friend. Being married rocks.

Steve & I on our wedding day after our 1st Mr. & Mrs. dance. (June 9, 2007)

Youth Group: Two years ago God decide to throw a 90-degree turn in our path and we ended up taking over the reigns of the youth group at our church. Neither of us even went to youth group as kids and our experience extended to a couple of meetings and helping to chaperone a ski trip. After a lot of learning, a lot of freaking out, a lot of laughs, a lot of growing, and a lot of prayer/trusting God to use us... we finally feel as we've started year 3 like the group is taking off. We've got an amazing (full) team, a great system, and an awesome group of students. This whole experience has been a reminder of "God does not always call the equipped, but He DOES equip the called".

Anticipation: I have a LOT coming up in the next month or so. One of my high school best friends is getting married this weekend. The "Living Proof" conference with Beth Moore is next weekend and I'm going with a great group of women. I turn 30 in exactly 2 weeks and my mom is coming to spend the weekend with us. My cousin Jess is getting married in 2 weeks and 1 day (the other reason my mom is coming to visit). We have a beach vacation coming up 3 weeks from tomorrow. I love the anticipation of everything that's coming up.

The View From Our Porch: It occurred to me as the air started to get a chill that we can see a lot of trees from our porch. This means that in a matter of days that view is going to explode with color (I'm really hoping that most of those trees aren't pine-type trees). That is going to be an absolutely beautiful sight when it happens (again... if most of those trees aren't pines.)

View from our front porch - Summer 2010 (Thunderstorm!)

So what are you loving right now? Leave a note in the comments!