Messy hospitality

In Replenish: Leading From A Healthy Soul, author Lance Witt asks a question that goes something like this: 'When do you feel most fulfilled?' After pondering that question for myself, I came up with a few different answers...... when my kids finally 'get' a concept in school that I've been teaching them for MONTHS, then I feel fulfilled. When I come to the end of a long to-do list, when it's complete, then I feel fulfilled. I also feel fulfilled when I use my gift of hospitality to host people in our home for a weekly Bible Study or a meal or for an overnight stay.

But even though we host a Bible Study group in our home every Monday night, it doesn't always mean that my house is ready. I try hard to have the house vacuumed, the bathroom cleaned, the kitchen floor swept (I won't even talk about mopping.....), snacks ready, dishes washed and put away.... but not all of those things happen every time (and I'm not flying solo trying to get these things done; my family is great at pitching in and helping!).

Sometimes it's 6:30 and the kitchen sink and counter are full of dirty dishes.....or the floor didn't get vacuumed or the bathroom didn't get cleaned, but guess what? In the midst of my messy hospitality,  people come to our house anyway! They come because they want to be with us more than they want to see our clean house. Friends understand that we LIVE in our house, that we have two young children, that I homeschool and write newsletters and go grocery shopping and take care of a million other things during the day.

In these times, I am reminded that I can be so much like Martha, rather than her sister Mary. This story is recorded for us in Luke 10:38-42.

At the Home of Martha and Mary

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a]Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

While there is nothing wrong with having a clean house, especially when friends and guests are coming to stay, I hope and pray that I don't miss out on spending time with these friends because I'm 'worried and upset about many things...'

I want to be more like Martha, who chooses to sit at the feet of Jesus, understanding that the best choice at that moment is to listen to the Master's words. May I understand that it is better to spend my time investing in the lives of people rather than investing in a clean bathroom; it's far more important to me to have friends who come to my dirty house than to have a clean house with no friends to invite over. I think my friends would all agree :-)