Grace-full hospitality

Back in CO, this time for school.  One of my Renovare Institute cohort sisters, Josi, invited me to stay at a guest house/retreat center her family operates. She and her mother were there to meet me. They showed me the house and the grounds, and the stocked breakfast pantry, and the coffee machine. Others are staying here too, a bunch of them I've heard, but I wouldn't have known it but for sleeping bags in rooms and cake in the kitchen.

Then Josi invited me to her family's house for dinner. Both Downing House (where I'm staying) and Josi's home are full of the warmth of love shared with strangers.  Their college-age kids were affectionate and helpful, even with friends there with them. Her husband was welcoming, putting me immediately at my ease.

But more than that, every person in both houses knows Jesus and loves the Lord.  God's grace and mystery are simply part of the atmosphere and the conversation. Hospitality is a given, because Christ gives us open and welcoming hearts.

When we move, and have more space to share, I want to share it with others. I want to God to create that kind of welcoming place in our hearts that cannot help but extend to our home. I want our child(ren) to grow up loving Him and us and feeling absolutely connected and welcome in their home. I want guests to come and stay, to be part of the family, and for me not to feel peevish for privacy. I want Jesus to so inhabit our thoughts and actions and practices and schedule that He pours out through us, and that we become a safe and inspiring place for others.

It's going to be a good week.