New Braunfels Bible Church Women's Ministry

Do you know that hospitality is a command for all believers, as well as a gift given to some? Either way, we should be welcoming others into our homes with some regularity.

Some are good at this. It is most likely one of their spiritual gifts. Others of us manage, but with mixed feelings toward Martha Stewart. And still others find the whole idea overwhelming.

Here are some encouraging thoughts:

Sharing your home is one of the best ways to get to know others and to begin a friendship.

Hospitality is not about impressing others, but about receiving them with kindness and generosity.

There are simple forms of hospitality such as inviting a friend for tea and cookies, a mom and her child for a play time, or a couple for brunch.

Extending the invitation to someone is a great inspiration to tidy up. Don’t think of this as hypocritical but as preparing a place for your guests. All our preparations should be with the idea of showing our guests that they are special. None of us...

Do you have tea time at your house? If not, I’d like to encourage you to try it. Our family is over-the-top crazy about coffee. One son-in-law is a barista and has roasted commercially. My husband roasts coffee beans which he buys green on-line. Yet tea has also had a special role.

A teapot and teacup are symbols of comfort and cozy conversation. The Brits in particular tend to reach for the tea kettle whenever trouble strikes. I took my cue from them, and when our daughter had a disappointment or a trauma, I put the kettle on. We also had a tradition of sharing a pot, as we shared our days, when she got home from school. A thermos of tea once accompanied us to the ER.

Little girls love tea parties, even with only their dollies or teddy bears as guests. Our daughters and granddaughters started with plastic tea sets, and enjoyed graduating to china. If a brother is interested in joining the party, just give him a cup or mug that doesn’t require him to extend his pinky finger.

Inviting a friend...

One important courtesy that is often neglected these days is the writing of thank you notes.  This is too bad.  A well written thank you is a blessing to receive.  If you have taken much time and trouble with a gift, receiving warm thanks makes you glad that you did. 

I have a sister who feels thank you notes are so important that only nieces and nephews who write them continue to receive gifts, usually well-chosen books for their children.  Our daughters know this and manage to get their thank you’s off to her promptly.  I hope this is not just because they want to keep receiving those delightful books, but because they know it is important to her.  They aren’t always quite so good about notes to us.  Our younger daughter has been known to write a note, but then squirrel it away in her purse for quite some time.  Life is very full for her and her sister.  For many of us.

Thus, if we struggle with this matter, we need to be more intentional about it.  We should plan ahead.  Choose note cards that...

This blog is called “Good Things”, and today it is about one of the best things: thanking the Lord.

“It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord.”  Psalm 92:1

We should thank the Lord every day, all day, but the day our nation set aside for thanking Him is just around the corner.  In the process of writing this, I googled the history of Thanksgiving in this land.  I found it extremely interesting and somewhat checkered.  

Here are two tidbits of interest to Texans:

1) Texas is one of four states claiming the first feast of thanksgiving and praise.  In 1541 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado held a feast with the Teya Indians in the Palo Dura canyon near Amarillo.  This predates the Plymouth feast of 1621, but it was not at a permanent European settlement. 

2) In 1939, following a stressful decade, American retailers asked FDR to move Thanksgiving back a week (from the last Thursday in November) to provide more shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  President Roosevelt...

Some of us seem to lack the gene for order and tidiness.  It doesn’t come naturally for us to pick up, put away, stack in tidy piles, or close cupboard doors and drawers.  We may have an abundance of creativity and fun ideas, but some of these result in more mess.

This can easily reach the point of chaos.  It becomes difficult to find things.  We forget an important date–because the date book was buried. That’s why the operative phrase in our house is always, “Oh, it’s under...”  The thought of friends dropping in, not to mention one’s mother-in-law, nearly brings on an anxiety attack. 

But “God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.”  I Corinthians 14:33  Yes, I confess that I yanked this verse out of context, but it’s true and applicable here.  I have experienced the connection between peace and order in our home.

I struggle with order, but I long ago decided that it’s a desirable and worthy goal.  I bought The Messie Manual, a book of tips for confirmed but repentant “messies.”  I applied...

There was once a young mom who was feeling very overwhelmed.  She had some serious health issues, including an auto-immune disease which caused fatigue and muscle weaknesses.  She had two little girls and a very helpful husband.  However her husband was in the Navy reserves, and he was doing his two week annual stint of active duty.  He’d been gone about ten days.  She was very tired.  The house was in need of cleaning.  The laundry was piling up.  So were the dishes.

She stood at the kitchen sink wishing she had a helpful Christian mom nearby.  Then she was moved to pray, “But Father, if You think I need help, You can send it.”  Not five minutes later the doorbell rang.  There was a friend from church who, with her husband, hosted their small group.  She said, “I’ve come to clean your house.

The young mom was a little embarrassed, but also very overwhelmed.  There was, in clear sight, a pile of leaves under a Boston fern that begged vacuuming, so she could not protest. 

The cleaning was quick and light, but so very significant.  Yes, I was that young mom a long time ago.  I decided that a much greater blessing than a Christian mom nearby is a heavenly Father who sees, hears, and sends help.

Tip:    There are many good reasons for being in a small group.  In the above case, it facilitated the Lord sending help, but it was also easier to receive help from a friend.  Find a group.

    “Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely, O Lord.  You hem me in behind and before.  You have laid Your hand on me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.”  Psalm 139:4-5