18 Mar 2016

Little Tasks to Tidy Your Home

by | posted in: Home | 4

My husband would so appreciate this post!  He is so much tidier than I am – I think he knew that before he proposed and he still did, but I can always be better at it.  A clean and peaceful home are two things that really show him that I love him.  And when you know your husband’s love language, shouldn’t you try to shout it loud and clear all day long!

Well, some things I can work on.  Little tasks throughout the day.  I don’t have to spend all day cleaning or anything like that.  But, if I just find a few things each day that I can concentrate on – it will help in the long run.

  1.  It takes me less than 10 minutes to unload, load, and wash the dishes.  Sometimes I do this in the morning, sometimes I do it at night – but 10 minutes.  I sometimes have to tell myself this to get to the kitchen and set the timer.  Then I realize it never takes as long as I think it does.
  2. Find little sections of the house to declutter/clean and you’ll feel better about your house in general.  You don’t have to tackle a whole room at once.  I have two young boys and our house is filled with toys.  But, if I can do something while they are watching Curious George or playing on the back porch – it will be a blessing to all involved.Small Cleaning Projects IMG_20160318_131642964
  3. Keep my table and hutch cleaned off.  This is huge.  It didn’t happen when I was growing up, but since getting married I’ve always strived to keep the kitchen table clean and the hutch display worthy.  Now, we use our kitchen table for crafts, coloring, eating, snacking, playing games, but then when we are done we clean it up. Flowers all around
  4. Pick up the toys (or other items) around your house at the end of the night.  This is a great way to teach preschoolers responsibility.  Have them help clean up before bed time, putting all their toys away in an place that is reachable for them.
  5. Make your bed.  My husband usually does this in the morning which is such a blessing.  But, I know that if our bed is made, it makes our whole bedroom seem clean, bright, and cheery.  And I can more easily fold clothes there during the day.  And who doesn’t like to fold clothes?

What do you do in your home that is helpful in keeping it clean and tidy?

8 Oct 2015

31 Days: The God Who Welcomes Sinners

by | posted in: 31days | 0

God Welcomes Sinners

I love practicing hospitality.  I love welcoming people in my home, and into my life.  I love deep friendships.  Hospitality isn’t about cooking the best food or having the most comfortable guest suite or the classic Pottery Barn magazine look everywhere.

God doesn’t need any of that to welcome sinners.  We just learned that God is holy and right in all that He does.

And at the same time, God knows our sin much better than we o and He still welcomes us.  He bids us come.  He desires that we be near Him.

How totally cool is that?  God knows the ugliness of our sin – is holy – and welcomes us through Jesus to sit with him, learn from him, be loved by him, be healed through him.

Psalm 51.3-4

Further reading: Matthew 11:28 and listen to this song

7 Nov 2014

Journaling for November

by | posted in: Bible, Uncategorized | 0

Journaling in November

November, already?  Wow – there is less than two months left in 2014.  And we always look forward to January – fresh, clean, new year.  I love January for many reasons, but November is a good month too.

I was inspired by a popular secular DIY/Lifestyle blog to think about ways to journal in November.  This month is easy to make a list of ways we are grateful, etc – but I think the art and practice of journaling may help make the list-making more of a heart-turning-to-gratitude making.

1.  Remember.  What has the Lord done for you this year.  Even if you can think about over the course of the last 10 months and journal about what God has done for you and your family.  This year has been extremely hard for our family and I’ve seen the Lord bring much healing.  He is good.  The book of Deuteronomy specializes in the word Remember – so maybe journal through that book and connect the dots.  The God of the Old Testament is the God of your heart, too.

Coffee and Journaling

2.  Thanks and Giving.  Search these two words in the Bible.  See how often we are to give out of gratitude. Give out of blessing.  Give even out of need.  One of the disciplines I’m trying to teach my older right now is to share.  And I heard a friend teaching her son yesterday that we share because God has been kind to us and we are to share with others.  Really, sharing and showing kindness and giving to another is a way we display the image of God in which we are created.  Just jot a note in a journal or in your ESV Journaling Bible where these words show up.  Pray the Spirit would help you cultivate a heart full of gratitude and selfless living with time and possessions.

Hospitality and Journaling

3.  Hospitality.  She Reads Truth is a great daily devotional plan that is online.  I’ve loved it and it is especially helpful for me who lives by my iphone, can read anything through my ESV App – listen to it if I’m on the road, and is perfect for getting me in the Word during a busy season of life.  And how many of us plan to host people in our homes or attend a function in another’s home this holiday season?  This is a timely study – that you can get and read and journal through to cultivate a heart of joyful welcoming.

How do you journal?  Do you use your Bible or do you use a notebook?

 

7 Aug 2013

Marriage, Ministry and Hospitality

by | posted in: life together, marriage, Uncategorized | 0

Eating, and hospitality in general, is a communion, and any meal worth attending by yourself is improved by the multiples of those with whom it is shared.

Jesse Browner

Marriage includes many joys!

One of the highlights of marriage and ministry for my husband is the idea and general enthusiasm I have for hospitality.  He is a very hospitable person – but how “odd” is it for a family from your church to come to lunch at the home of a bachelor?  Even one who keeps his home immaculately and can cook a great meal.  E was grateful for marriage for many reasons but one of them was his increased opportunity to practice hospitality.  I’m all for it.

Most anytime I mention an idea I have to practice hospitality, my husband gives me the thumbs up.  Here are some that we’ve had the joy to do in our home, yes, with an infant, yes, moving to a new town.

1. Write the Word parties: where a group of women come over one night every other month to talk about the word and write out or journal a specific book of the Bible.  All I need is chairs and maybe extra pens.  What is optional: coffee, tea, water, evening goodies.  My husband hangs out with the little mister so I can focus on talking with the women who come over.

2.  Worship Ministry Birthday Parties: My husband is a worship pastor and loves pastoring those in the choir and orchestra.  And I am not a part of his choir, but I do want to be involved in his ministry.  So, each month we pick a night to have the birthday people for that month (and their immediate families) over for a dessert time.  I love to bake – sometimes I get to be creative, sometimes I don’t.  But each month it has been a joy to get to know families – no matter how many birthday people can make it that month.

3.  Men’s Discipleship Groups: Every other week my husband would meet with a group of men from the church to discuscuss a book on church ministry and leadership.  I loved exploring some new breakfasts with this group, but I have to admit this one was the hardest because I experienced first trimester through this one.  Early mornings were rough, but the men were gracious as was my husband.  They survived some weeks on bagels or store bought muffins.  And with this one, much of it could be prepared the night before and ready for Eric to welcome them in the morning.

4.  Hang Out times:  This one I’m sure many of you do anyway.  I love being able to have women in our home during the day while E is at work.  Baby can be sleeping, or other babies can come along and join in on the fun. Especially helpful if you just have something to drink on hand – but that is not necessary either.  Fellowship in your home doesn’t require anything but an open door and a welcome smile.

5.  Sunday Lunches: Our Sundays are long days as you can imagine, but the crockpot comes in handy for this one!  Or you can always pick up a pizza on the way home!  Pick a different single, couple, or family.  This one with my family where it is right now is easy – because right when we get home little mister goes to bed, so he sleeps through almost anything.  The afternoon is cozy and good for conversation.  We don’t do this one a lot because of the hecticness of Sundays, but it is fun when it happens.

6.  Porch Nights: This one is about to start.  We have many single ladies in our church and I love ministering to them, discipling them, and getting to know them.  We have a great porch with plenty of room.  So, we are having a quarterly theme for the single ladies to get together and hang out – no agenda necessary.  We are doing appetizers in August.

This post was meant to be a help to you – to know that you don’t have to have a big house, lots of money, a love for cooking, or home decorating to practice hospitality.  I love opening our home to others.  And God gives us the command to be hospitable to others!  Have fun fulfilling this command!

6 May 2013

Mirroring Christ in our Hospitality

by | posted in: life together, Women, Worship | 0

 

There are probably people we know, men and women, who are amazing at showing hospitality.  There was a lady in our church growing up who was fabulous at this.  She welcomed everyone in the church and was a fabulous cook as well.   My mentor is incredible in this skill as well: cooking, opening her door, opening a bed or place to sleep for guests, praying over her guests, etc.  I learned much of my “activity” of hospitality from them.  Thankful.

Our church’s women’s ministry just had a night of learning about hospitality.  I was not able to go but you can find some of the handouts from the sessions on our women’s blog.  I’ve written much about hospitality, but what does it mean in a more spiritual sense?  Meaning, the hospitality that God shows for us?

An illustration you might understand before I get to Tripp’s quote: Some people you welcome into your home with welcome arms.  You can’t wait to go out of your way for them, sit and talk for hours, invite them into your heart and home.  Others, you tolerate.  You really could have them leave at any time, don’t care if they stay or go.  Really, if you are honest, you wish you could probably just show them the door quickly after dinner was open.  (If you are reading this with dropped jaw in disbelief that anyone could ever have such a thought toward another person – look at your own life.  This is where sanctification comes in.  I’m not perfect.  Spirit is still working).

Well, as Tripp says in his book, Dangerous Calling, Christ doesn’t just tolerate us:

“One of the sweetest blessings of the cross of Jesus Christ is that the curtain of separation has been torn in two. No longer are the holy places open only to the high priest once a year. No, now each of God’s children has been welcomed to come with confidence into God’s presence, and not just once a year.”

“We, with all of our sin, weakness, and failures are welcome to do what should blow our minds. We are not only tolerated by God at a distance; no, we are welcomed into intimate personal communion with the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the creator, the sovereign, the Savior. We, as unholy as we are, are told to go with confidence into his holy presence.”

– Paul David Tripp, Dangerous Calling, p. 197.

Live welcomed.

17 Feb 2011

Thursday Thoughts: Christ-like Hospitality

by | posted in: Uncategorized | 6

Yesterday in our ed-staff meeting, one of the pastors at my church brought up the fact that one of the times the NT uses the word example is when Christ shows the example to the disciples of service: wraps a towel and washes their feet.  The display of service, grace, unmerited reward, purity.

I started thinking about how I use my home for hospitality.  I can make all the excuses I want: time, small apt, shared apt, you name it – but hospitality is still a command that we need to follow.  This isn’t going to be a blog post on the hospitality commands or all the verses that talk about it – but more the practical and attitude of showing hospitality in your home.

1.  It is not about cooking fancy foods.  I remember having a couple in my home back after Christmas.  I shared with my brother while I was home that I was nervous about what to cook for them because she is a personal chef and he is just a great cook.  He said they would probably just like a normal meal.  Well, God helped me figure out what to cook for them by causing snow to fall so I arrived home just an hour or two before their arrival.  I picked up a rotisserie chicken from HT, baked some sweet potatoes, roasted some green beans and mushrooms (love) and then created a little semi-homemade trifle dessert.  Simple, yet yummy.  But, I was still worried about what they thought.  Good thing they enjoyed it.

2.  It is not about impressing your guests.  I am the type with most people that I want to vacuum before they come over, make sure everything is in its place, etc.  But, I know the guests that I love because when they come over I don’t worry about if they see that my house is lived in.  I always need to be a good steward of what God has given me and not be lazy about picking up my home – but I do not need to bring out the dust rag and Pledge 30 minutes before you walk in my front door.  We need to be always ready to have anyone come in our home.  I know what a blessing it is for me to walk into a home of families I love and there are toys scattered everywhere, dishes in the sink, maybe things aren’t perfect – but neither is the guest!

3.  It is about showing grace.  It is always an opportunity to share with your guests the grace of God.  God has been so kind to me that I need to pass on those gifts and that grace to others.

3.  It is about comfort.  I want my apt to be a place of comfort for others now.  But, I think more importantly, I want that in my home one day – maybe as a family – maybe as a single – I want to have my home be a place of comfort, life, and ease.  I want people to come and be able to “make themselves at home” and come and go as they please.  I want my friends to have a home away from home, a retreat.  I have wonderful friends who have modeled that for me through the years, and I pray that I can be a blessing to others in the same way.  I was just mentioning to someone last night that I don’t want people in my home all the time, because we all need our downtime, our be by ourselves time, strictly family time – so there needs to be guidelines – but again, grace, Kim, grace.

4.  It is not about getting something in return.  We do not give so that others will give back.  We do not shower grace in anticipation of what we might get in the future.

5.  It is about having the mind of Christ.  I need to keep this in mind.  Christ wasn’t worried about if the towel wrapped around his waist was clean and pressed and smelled like lavender.  He wasn’t concerned with the floor being swept.  His one concern was teaching them humility and service.  I want that pressed into me when I have folks in my home – or when I have the ability to serve at a function.  The pastors I have the opportunity to serve with model this well: if we have a meeting with food – it is mostly the pastors that are the first to jump up and clear the tables of the plates and trash.  It still surprises me every time.  I am grateful for their humble hearts and their willingness to serve us.

I write these things out of conviction and out of yearning to be more Christ-like, not that I have this all together.  Again – this whole preaching the gospel to myself.  Knowing that to die to self is the only way to live to Christ.  And that is my gain.

Here are some hopefully helpful quotes from wise women that I hope will encourage you in your effort to proclaim the gospel in your hospitality:

“God urges us to deny ourselves, to lose our lives, and to give preference to others.” – Dorothy Patterson, BeAttitudes for Women

“The home may not (be) a place of luxury, but (hopefully it is) a place of community.” – Carolyn McCulley, Radical Womanhood

“Simplicity frees you to extend hospitality more easily and more often, so that it can become a true ministry of the Christian home regardless of other demands on your time and energy.” – Eilizabeth Skoglund, The Welcoming Hearth

“Cultivating a love for the home means acquiring practical skills and training so that you can intentionally make your home a mission field, not a museum.” – Carolyn McCulley, Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye (and just to add…this mission field does not only apply to having non-believers in your home – but I truly think it also means to have the Body in your home and show them Christ.)

I hope this post encourages you.  It has me.  Even as I put the final period.

8 Nov 2010

Much and Link Love (November 8 edition)

by | posted in: weight loss, writing | 0

Daylight savings time and colder weather. But pretty red trees on my way to work. Almost makes up for it.

1. I love fall. Everything about it.
2. I love really long meals with friends (at a restaurant) where you are just talking, sipping, and you have a great waiter.
3. 13 miles hiking through downtown Richmond on Saturday have made my feet really tired.
4. But, that doesn’t negate the really cute boots I got yesterday at Kohls. I love Kohls.
5. I’m doing pretty well on my goals I’ve set.
6. This week is Bstudy, baking, CMA awards, bday dinner for a friend, trip to Asheville and Ridgecrest, youth discipleship weekend with Troy Temple, and a conference with Tedd Tripp (even though I’m not a parent).
7. Vacation is coming soon. 4 WHOLE DAYS. Can’t wait. That means I’ve got some things to accomplish before I go.
8. Here is what is on my coffee table right now: InStyle, Durham Foodie, Dorie Greenspan’s Baking Cookbook, a recipe I must share tonight with pictures.

Link Love:
1. Thank you Katie McCoy for this post on single girls waiting for Mr. Right.
2. And while we are on relationships, Ken offers this bit of advice for single guys in Toy Story 3.
3. I have always wanted a map of the world…how cool is this one?
4. Mom and I are going to try this over Thanksgiving, Thanks CasaBrasi!
5. Love how Carolyn McCulley presses on with hospitality and shares with the rest of us!
6. Another thing I’m getting over Thanksgiving…my Christmas tree!
7. I’m going to a holiday open house here, can’t wait!