Houses, Homes, and Hospitality

We live in a small house, less than 1,000 square feet.  We love our home, but in a society that applauds "bigger" and "more," we have never really expected others to fall in love with it like we have.  Admittedly, it is a bit crowded.  The kitchen counters are covered with appliances and canisters; the living room houses a toy kitchen and bins of toys; the girls share a bedroom so we can have a small guest room; and there is only one bath.

Furthermore, ever since we moved in this house, we have been working on a project, or two, or more at a time.  I've even been a bit embarrassed when neighbors would come into my back yard and see at least three or four of the following at any given time:  a backhoe, siding, shutters, shingles, lumber, stacks of bricks, ladders, wheelbarrows, shovels, hoes, and rakes.  Add to that the pink-that-should-be-red front door, the half-painted back deck, the "soon-to-be-painted" bricks and foundation and swing set, and a million other things "we are going to do," and I've thought of my house as more of a vision that needs to be explained than a welcoming environment.

Just this week we have had 10 guests who have never been in our home before.  Each one was complimentary of our home, our yard, and our small garden.  But I, in my despicable pride, found myself pointing out all the flaws that we are going to fix...someday.  When I look around, I see the hole in the wall that needs to be patched, the shutters that are still sitting on the deck waiting to be hung and painted, the little brick wall that we intend to mortar, the trim that needs to be painted, and so much more.  I wish now that I would have just accepted their compliments with a simple, "Thank you," because, as my brother said, "The homeowner is the only one that sees those things."  And, because I have since remembered something...

It's not the decor but the people that are at the heart of the home.  Of course we all want the decor to reflect our personalities, our passion for people and life.  We want our homes to be beautiful, a reflection of the beauty that is in all of us as masterpieces of God.  But what does that mean?  I think it means that we love on the people that walk through our door--our spouse, our children, and all our relatives, our friends and neighbors, and even the college student selling children's books and the little old ladies inviting us to a their church.

We don't want to get so caught up in the decor that we forget to love on the people.  Because it's not the decor that says, "You are welcome here," but the smiles and casual conversation.  It's our willingness to listen, our ability to laugh, our compassion that moves us to pray that will make our homes beautiful.

I may never get that painting hung over my couch, but I pray that you will feel comfortable enough to prop your feet up when you sit under that blank wall.  I hope you will accept some tea and feel free to share your prayer needs.  And if there's a backhoe in my yard the next time you come, I hope I can stifle an explanation and just offer you some lemonade; we can sit outside on the half-painted deck, look at the backhoe while we chat, and watch the kids play on the slip'n'slide.  It might be messy, it might be dirty, but I hope it feels welcoming.

May God help us love well.  May His presence be felt in our home.  And, as He is Love, and we pray His Spirit into our home, may our guests feel Love when they walk through our door.  Love makes our messes beautiful.  So, we welcome you in to our beautiful mess.

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A Random Note:  A sweet sister in Christ gave me the wonderful suggestion of laying hands on the garden, asking God to bless it with a bountiful harvest.  I have done so, not just once, but many times; while weeding or watering, I will throw up another plea for God to bless our meager efforts.  I say "meager," because really what is pulling a few weeds compared to the miracle of God turning a seed into a plant that produces fruit and more seeds!?  We do very little, but I'm anxious to see what He will do as we acknowledge and welcome His presence into our garden.

I'm sure this is completely out of context, but this verse was in my readings this week and I prayed it would not only apply to our garden but also our children.  May the good seeds we plant bear good fruit.

"The Lord will indeed give what is good and our land will yield its harvest."  Psalm 85:12

Purpose

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday in which I reminded her that God has a purpose for her, right here, right now.  Funny thing, I needed to hear myself say those words.  The word "purpose" has been banging around in my thoughts all day reminding me of things I've read in Rick Warren's book, Purpose Driven Life, and causing me to ask myself questions like, "What's my purpose?"  "Do I know my purpose?"  "Am I working in my purpose each day?"  "Today?"

My purpose:  Love God; Love Others.

LOVE GOD:  Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and all of your soul, and all of your mind, and all of your strength.  (Luke 10:27)

LOVE OTHERS:  Love your neighbor as your love yourself.  (Luke 10:27)

("Others" being particularly my man and my girls, and then all others around me.)

So if that's my purpose, then I had to ask myself, what should that look like?  I've thought about the verses that talk about us as Christians being salt and light.

SALT:  We are told in 2 Corinthians that we are the aroma of Christ, but Matthew 5 implies that we are also the flavor of Christ.  People should get a taste of Him when they are with us.  We should be significantly different from the rest of the world, a blast of flavor in a world of bland.

LIGHT:  My front porch light is on and summer bugs are swarming around it.  In the black of night, they are drawn to the light.  We should be like that porch light!  We should radiate so brightly with something (some ONE) so different than what the rest of the world has to offer, that people are drawn in for a closer look.  And as they look at our lives, examine our lives, they should see Christ, the Light of the world, in US!

As a friend said today, it's all about Love.  As He pours His love on us, we love God.  We love because He first loved us.  (1 John 4:19)  His love fills us and overflow onto others, and others are drawn to Him Who Is Love.  And that is my purpose.

And I fall so short.  I'm not always filled to over-flowing.

So, in my shower meditations today I realized that I need to start small.  I need to (1) accept that God loves me.  Accept love so I can love.  I need daily time in the Book of Love so I can be confident in Love.  I need to feel enveloped in grace and forgiveness and LOVE, so that I can LOVE.

I thought about that daunting cliche, seize the day, and decided that indeed Glennon Melton is right:  I should just (2) make sure I "carpe" a couple of moments each day.  In between the laundry and dishes and cooking and cleaning and gardening, I am pausing to capture some mental snapshots of LOVE.  The LOVE of God in the LOVEly...the joy of my big girl's belly laugh...the beauty of baby girl's big brown eyes that look at me with satisfaction as she sucks those little fingers...the blessing of a man who LOVES me tenderly and heartily and just loves me well...the magic and wonder of a growing garden...the sweet fellowship of God-sisters on my covered deck as we shake cream into butter...

And, as Ann Voskamp says, I should (3) remember that I am where I am, right here, right now, for a purpose.  I am inside the gate of LOVE for the purpose of drawing others in.  I am blessed to bless.  I am LOVED to LOVE.

Oh, Lord, help me love as You love.

Commentaries on Life and Prayer

Wow.  A friend asked why I hadn't blogged in a while.  My answer in a word:  Life.  Life has been happening and it has been wonderful, and emotional, and busy, and savored.

In the last month...

We wrapped up AWANA and children's choir at our church with moments that made this momma proud, my fave being big girl's recitation of John 3:33, "God is truthful..."
Big girl graduated from preschool...
My big girl and I went to the zoo and Orange Leaf (which was much fun for her; I enjoyed her smiles much more than the ice cream)...
We've had several dentist and doctor appointments, some of which are in preparation for kindergarten...
We hosted a Compassion Sunday at our church and 6 kids received a sponsor (so much happy)...
I had a wheat berry grinding and bread baking lesson from a spiritual momma...
We traveled to my hometown for my niece's graduation...
We finished planting our garden and laying our patio (happy, happy, happy!!!!)...
My man went out of town for work and we girls traveled to my sister's and spent a day at the science museum, where we went through mazes, and climbed ever-so-high, and then slid down, down, down, only to climb ever-so-high again and slide down more times than I could count, and we lifted a car, and maneuvered a wheelchair, and saw dinosaurs and honey bees and stars...
We had our last MOPS meeting of the year...
I enjoyed my final MOPS steering team "meeting," which was really a brunch at our mentor's momma's cozy and most inviting home and garden...
The girls and I took an impromptu trip to my hometown in an effort to offer emotional support as my brother with ALS had a feeding tube put in...
His procedure was postponed 5 days and our 2-3 day trip turned into a 7 day trip...
The extended stay was easily filled up spending time with my siblings; one day was divided between my brother's boat (tubing) and my brother-in-law's boat (fishing)...more on that later...
The day of the procedure, my sister and I stayed with our niece's children; my girls had a blast playing with all their cousins...
The next day we drove home; we pulled in the driveway around 9 pm...
VBS was happening at our church the next two nights, but I couldn't make it happen...
We spend the next couple of days catching up on sleep and laundry and gardening...and trying to counteract a week's worth of fast food with some grilled veggies...
We've had birthday parties, and impromptu play dates, and a friend in yoga pants dropped by for a cup of water (I had coffee) who wound up staying for six hours (I love those days), and a "cool off" party with kiddie pools and sprinklers, and slip'n'slides...
We've gathered eggs for a friend who is out of town...
We've worshiped with the residents of a local nursing home...
We've played outside, and worked in the garden, and watched movies and lots of "Wild Kratts," and made cards for the nursing home residents, and baked a lot of bread, and ruined a batch of bread, and argued and laughed hard and slept little and had far too little quiet time...
And I haven't opened this computer more than 5 times in as many weeks, and a couple of those times were probably to look up recipes.

I have so much I want to say about all of that...

My sweet aunt has emailed three times and has yet to receive a response from me because I only read emails on my phone, but if they require more than a few words in response, they lie there in my inbox until I can use a real keyboard to type out a reply.

My girls had an absolute blast on their uncle Tod's boat.  They have not stopped asking when they can go on "that" boat again, the one with the tube.  Big girl got a head-full of water at one point.  She gasped until we pulled her on the boat, then had a good cry, then was ready to get back on the tube.  Mommy was not ready.  That's when we moved to the fishing boat.

We really enjoyed our time with my family.  I didn't feel like we were in a tornado the whole time we were there.  We actually got to sit and visit and see everyone.  It was good.

And though it may seem to many such a little thing, I think we have been so extremely blessed this last week or two with fresh foods.  I have relished plucking mint straight from my garden each night and drinking mint tea with fresh local honey.  Fresh basil has hit the table almost daily this week, topping tomatoes with mozzarella, spaghetti sauce, and even cheesy bread.  We've had at least a handful of strawberries every day.  We have farm-fresh eggs in our frig and milk straight from the cow.  I really can not tell you how grateful I am for these whole foods.  I get a little giddy every time I get to use fresh ingredients.  It's a weird passion, I know.

And then there is my brother and his stoic fight with ALS.  His wonderful wife who cares for him so diligently and never complains, but rather smiles and encourages and is so strong.  My momma who is living a mother's worst nightmare.  His children, his grandchildren, and us, his siblings, who watch helplessly and so desperately want to help, but there is nothing to be done.  We pray.  Oh, we pray.

On our drive home after the feeding tube procedure, big girl's belly was aching.  I had received multiple updates on my brother's condition through text; one said he was sick at his stomach and having a lot of pain. I told the girls and we prayed.  Big girl prayed that his belly would feel better than hers.

And speaking of prayer, here a few smiles to wrap this up.  We pray each night before the girls to go bed.  Recently, both of the girls' prayers made me smile.

Big girl:
"Thank you, God, for black widows, because we know you made them and they are good."
I'm paraphrasing a bit, but that prayer was a true mimicry of this momma's prayers.  In our battle with the wretched black things, I have had to remind myself that they, too, have a purpose and a place in the circle of life.  In my effort to "give thanks in all things," and overcome what was once a nearly paralyzing fear, I have shifted my focus from the horrors they can cause to the reason they were created.

Baby girl:
"Thank you, God, for earthworms and the fun that they have..."
I wonder if she meant "the fun we have with them?"  We had just cut one in two that same day while turning the compost pile.  They saw the worm's blood, which fascinated them, and watched as it burrowed back into the ground to regenerate.
"And thank you for wolf spiders..."
I've told them these are the good spiders that eat the bad ones, aka black widows, so we do not want to kill them.
"And thank you for the wolves and foxes we see in our backyard."
I'm assuming this was triggered by the wolf spiders because we have never seen a wolf in our backyard.