7/21/07

Reflection of Gifts (and WINNER!)

Hospitality is not all about entertaining. In fact, I’ve written about the true definition of hospitality in previous posts.I like to think of hospitality as a gift within a gift. It’s different for each person.

Sometimes I hear people say, “It’s just not my gift,” and they think they are off the hook.

Maybe it’s the way we’ve been taught about hospitality in the church that turns us off. I think at times a church can dampen a hospitable spirit. For example, many think of that word and cringe because they think of a church function where they have to bring food or that they are required to invite missionaries into their home. Both of those are ways to use your gifts, but I want women to know and feel that being hospitable can be lived out in many different ways.

We need to wrap our minds around the simplicity of it. The need and command for it. Taking the mindset of giving ourselves away in life, through our passions!

I love to entertain, can, cook, bake, and love on people.

Others may not identify with those domestic hospitality traits, but they may have a love for teens or the homeless.

God doesn’t want us to be shy with our gifts, but BOLD and LOVING and GENEROUS!

I’d love to hear the many ways you plan to share your gifts with others this week?

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What a great response to Outdoor Movie Night contest! Thank you, everyone, for sharing your ideas and comments (61 -- woo hoo!)!

The winner is: Elise!

Since there were so many friends who commented, I decided to give away 2 extra books of No More Jellyfish, Chickens, or Wimps, which my husband Paul just wrote.

The winners are: Gena and Gibee!

Stay tuned for more exciting boxes to be given away this Fall!

(Top photo: candlelight service at our church, 2006)

For those of you with families who like a little bit of humor, you can check out Paul's latest blog on crosswalk as it was just posted this morning. ENJOY! Don't laugh too hard.

16 comments:

tammi said...

Man, the more I read here, the more you become a definite favourite! I'm one of those people who've always claimed they didn't have the gift of hospitality. But you're so right, it doesn't have to be nearly as strenuous as many of us think it is. (it seems women in particular make it more complicated than necessary) Thank you for pointing out the true simplicity.

And congratulations to the winners!!

Gena said...

Thanks for the wonderful (and encouraging) blog posts! I, like valleygirl said, have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be, so your posts make hospitality a little less intimidating. Thanks also for the contest. I look forward to reading the book when it arrives. I'll blog about it after reading it, okay?!

Diane @ A Watered Garden said...

Valley Girl alread said everything I was going to. :-) I love coming to your blog for encouragement in the art of having an open home. I also wanted to let you know that we tried your "Millies Ice Cream" recipe last week...and I've made it twice. The second time I added 2 T. of instant coffee for a mocha flare and stirred in chopped up Hershey kisses as the final touch. This recipe is a KEEPER!!! Would you mind if I posted it on my blog (with my "mocha revision" and linked to you? (question...are the raw eggs an issue?) I have returned to blogville with a new name and address. You can now visit me at: www.awateredgarden.blogspot.com. I will be spending time over the next week to catch up on reading postings made during my recent sabbatical. Blessings, Diane

Unknown said...

Congratulations to the winners, although I am bummed I didn't win :-0

One thing I *love* to do when people come to our house is invite them into the garden and give them fresh produce. They are always so grateful, it just warms my heart!

Michelle said...

Well, I am glad to say that we are gathing with friends to tonight at one of those wonderful fun times where everyone is bringing a dish and we sit around and share our lives...the best times.

Karen said...

Sandy, I somehow lost track of you early on when I first discovered your blog, so I'm SO happy that you chose to comment on my blog! I am blessed so much by what you write--you make me want to be better about entertaining, because it's definitely something I WANT to do. I guess I just don't make it a priority. I NEED to, and I plan to keep coming back frequently as encouragement to do so! Blessings, Karen

Nadine said...

Congratulations to the winners.

This past week, I taught a young gal to cook and had some friends over for dinner. I love to entertain.

a woman who is said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a lovely comment. I must say I find your blog so refreshing. Your mission to share the gift of hospitality not only with the ones you are being hospitable too but also those of us in blog land is really lovely. I am blessed to see a mother of young children going for it with all her heart.
I am also big on sharing my home and food with many. This week seemed to be ladies week. I just kept a jug of iced coffee in the fridge, some fresh cookies at hand and it was all good! We love to keep the door revolving here. I especially love to keep a stock fridge for the teenagers that show up on a regular basis, always hungry :>)

Darla said...

Sandy, you are on a mission and its all good *smile*.

This week I spent a few days alone at our mountain house. I called my neighbor and said "Shall I put the tea pot on?". Nothing fancy, just a cup of tea and a plate of store bought (gasp!) cookies.

My invitation was quickly accepted. She's a lady who lives alone up in that fairly remote area, widowed for about 3 years.

I felt the visit was a success and I think she did too. Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of the companionship factor when we think of hospitality.

Darla

Anonymous said...

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog! I love yours...and will be stopping by often!
Have a great week!

Kerry said...

I'm so glad I found this blog! I've had several people in my life tell me I have the gift of hospitality and when I first got married I did it often and LOVED it. After investing in several couples I got a little burnt out when no one seemed to want to invite us over, not to mention the added expense. I admit I had a bad attitude and wasn't doing it unto God. We stopped and then had our two children. The few times we did have people over it was a bit stressful with the two little ones to keep track of. But a few weeks ago at church we were challenged to get past "the fence" with our neighbors and to host a BBQ. That week I found your blog and it seems God is speaking to me to use this gift unto Him. Last week I had 3 get togethers. One BBQ and 2 pool parties w/ mom's & kids. It was work but it was also a blast! My hubby has been supportive and has really learned to step up and help me out.

All this to say, thank you for being such an encouragement and posting such practical suggestions. The BBQ we had last week, the couple had been not getting along before they came and she shared w/ me the next day they had such a nice time and her hubby had commented he wanted to get back to going to church. God is using you....thanks for being his vessel.

Elizabeth said...

You always inspire me, Sandy! I'm entertaining tomorrow night. Since we just arrived home from vacation tonight, I'm stressing a little about pulling it all together, with five kids and unpacking looming as well. With your good example, I can manage. ;)

Loved Paul's latest blog entry! Hilarious (especially to the mother-of-five kids ages ten-and-younger who just returned home from the road trip today)!

Barb said...

This week we'll have one of our boys' co-workers over for lunch one day (a young man living 2 hours from his family), set a date to host our pastor and his wife for dinner next week, our daughter will take a couple of little girls she enjoys to swim at my parents' place, and another 5 year old friend might be over to spend a day toward the end of the week, to help her mom out. And we'll be planning sleeping arrangements and what to feed the out of town company we have coming for several days the week after next. Lucky book winners! It's a great read!

GiBee said...

Oh, my goodness!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Jill said...

Congrats to all the winners! We have really been enjoying our deck and have had numerous causal dinners with neighbors and friends. And...inspiration from you, my dear friend. I've invested in tableware, fun candles, etc. for our new entertaining venue.

GiBee said...

Oh, Sandy --- thank you for sharing that link to Paul's post. Wonderful. I'm just now getting to reading it, and I'm so glad I did. He is an incredibly talented, and funny writer, and it makes me even more anxious to dig into No More Jellyfish, Chickens or Wimps.

Thank you for sharing, and I'll be blogging about it next week! You can count on it!