hospitality

My in-laws are without a doubt the most hospitable people I’ve ever known. My wife went to visit her parents after church, yesterday. I had stayed at home so I asked her how they were. She said they were kind of depressed because they didn’t have a house full of family and friends there for Sunday dinner. They love people and they love to have people in their home. That’s a good characteristic to have.

My wife inherited her parent’s practice of hospitality. During the time that our family lived in Romania, I was the “missionary” doing all that missionary stuff but my wife simply opened our apartment to people. She created an amazing pancake recipe which everyone loved. This became her pancake ministry.

Pastors, missionaries, friends, new people would “happen” to be in our neighborhood so they’d drop in. My wife knew they wanted some of her pancakes so she’d make a batch and everyone would talk. It might be about last Sunday’s church service or it might be about how fast their kids were growing up. My wife gave them pancakes, hospitality, and love. In fact, I think she accomplished more with pancakes than I ever did doing the missionary stuff.

We see in Romans 12:9-13, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

Photo by Nathalie Jolie on Unsplash