Chocolate Crumbs

There is something delightful about surveying your crumpled home after a particularly good visit. Its almost as though your house doesn't know that everyone is gone and you're the only one left to put things back in order. You see, the place still wants to laugh. The carpet is clothed with crumbs from the chocolate cake, the couch cushions are squished together in an awkward fashion rather than cuddling nicely side by side, the toy airplane is lonely on the floor next to the piano, and the teapot is begging me to boil more water and fill her up so she can hear another good conversation. I do turn on the kettle for one more cup of tea before bed and then fill the sink with water to move the dishes from the dirty side of the counter to their drying rack.

Yes it was a particularly good visit. There was laughter, advice, serious conversation, cake, and tea. What else could you wish for?

As I scrub away I think about hospitality and that verse in Hebrews 13 about entertaining strangers because they might be angels. I bet God allows angels to be cantankerous sometimes. And I don't think hospitality always has to do with having people over. It means talking to people at church, people who go to your church or who are visiting, people who are nice or annoying. It means providing meals for sick and hurting people, it means babysitting, it means talking on the phone and giving that person your full attention, it means listening, it means praying, and sometimes it means cleaning up baby-puke on the church floor while the mom deals with the baby.

I think hospitality is something every Christian--young, old, married, single, loud, quiet, good cook, bad cook--everyone should be doing.

Here are some bits of advice about having people over to make your service go more smoothly.

1. Invite more than one family over at a time. This way they can help entertain each other and move conversation along
2. Cakebox mixes are your friends
3. Prepare stuff (like food or even questions to ask your company to get to know them better) before they arrive
4. Don't worry. People have been visiting each other since forever. Most people are thankful someone was thoughtful enough to have them over and they won't judge you if everything isn't perfect. AND, don't worry if your house is not the same when the company leaves. Your house is an inanimate object that is here to serve Jesus and someday it will fall apart and very few (if any) people will care. It is not coming with you when you die--but the people in it will hopefully be going to the same place you are.
5. Remember you're doing it for Jesus. There is great joy in obedience.

As I vacuum up the chocolate crumbs I smile. Everyone should vacuum up chocolate crumbs (or their equivalent) regularly.

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