Tag: servant

A few more thoughts on hospitality

A few months ago, I mentioned that I hoped to share with you some of what I learned while writing an essay on hospitality. In May, a day trip to a mountain town with my neighbor’s family jogged my memory. My memory continued to jog, but only in place as the busyness of June took over.

Now here I am at last with my hospitality essay at my side. But my mind keeps returning to that mountain town…

As I sprawled out on the little sister’s bed during siesta time, my eyes roamed the room, spotting things stashed here and there. A rickety binder that looked as if it had been tossed on top of the wardrobe and promptly forgotten. Broken drawers in a dresser decorated with childish markers. An abandoned attempt at decor.

The untidiness spoke of things not cared for.

Yet there I was, a stranger to the family, welcomed into their home and offered a bed. Rather than buy expensive things and focus on protecting them from harm, this family created a space that said people mattered more.

The women set up a chair in the narrow kitchen doorway for me to sit and hold the baby and then spent the evening tripping over me as they bustled about. And they didn’t mind.

As we finished dinner around midnight, a deep weariness came over me as I looked around at the pile of people in the living room. As soon as they left, the cleanup would need to begin.

And then they left, and rather than being overwhelmingly dirty, the house looked almost clean. As I helped to stack the green plastic chairs and fluff the postage stamp pillows, I wondered why.

It was as if the people who had been in the room were the only decor. The room was serviceable not beautiful, because the emphasis was on the relationships of those who gathered rather than the things they gathered around.

I don’t believe that hospitality and taking care of things are mutually exclusive. However, coming from a culture that often values possessions more than relationships, I appreciate the reminder to engage the relational side of hospitality.

Oops. I’ve been rather long-winded and I haven’t even started my essay summary. Maybe next week? 🙂

Quiet servant

When we serve, how many of us are merely serving ourselves?

We maintain such a publicly busy schedule that people praise us when we do some act of service. What a sacrifice to give of ourselves and our schedules! And we are gratified when our sacrifice is acknowledged. 

But what about those who are quietly serving, who don’t trumpet their schedule so that others ooh and aah? They may be sitting with the dying, tending to the sick, helping to clean another’s house. But quietly, and without verifying that the whole world knows what a gem they are.

When these quiet servants show up to serve at a church function, we assume it is as it should be because they probably had nothing better to do anyway. After all, they’re not busy. The ones who should receive the praise are the ones who sacrifice their busyness. 

Maybe you’re the busy one, declaring on social media or to your small group at church just how busy and important you are… and how sacrificially you gave of yourself today. Maybe your attempt at service is much more about yourself than God or those you are serving. (I know how this goes because I find myself here far too often!)

Or maybe you are the quiet servant. May God bless you. Your love for the Lord has placed you in the woodwork and you’re courageous enough to stay there.