Sunday, January 13, 2008

Lead By Example

If you'll recall this post, I challenged you, my faithful readers, to invite people to your home in the new year, to wait until after Christmas and New Year's to have people over. I decided that the best way to encourage others to do this was to do it myself.

So today, S and I had some friends over for lunch after church. They are fairly new to our church and we know them but not very well so we thought it would be a good way to get to know them. We bonded over lunch, talking about our respective upbringings, the challenges of being a working mom (for her), having a husband who travels (me), having children who fight over silly things (all of us!), the blessings God has bestowed upon us.

Y'all, it was so much fun. We laughed, we talked about serious stuff, we watched the kids play with new friends. It was totally worth the effort. And there wasn't much effort involved at all. We served hot dogs and macaroni and cheese (something almost every child likes). Of course, I had to throw in some veggies, so we had a vegetable tray with yummy dip.

The funny thing was that they have two little boys and we, of course, have two girls and a boy who doesn't have a whole lot of boy toys just yet. But when they found the playhouse outside and the Barbie Jeep, everything was hunky-dory.

I really want to encourage you to do this. Whether it's one night during the week, a Friday night, or Sunday after church, have your friends over. Invite people who have never been to your home before. We all have those friends we're comfortable with. This is supposed to be a challenge, though, so have someone over who has never been to your house before. Step out of that comfort zone that is, indeed, so comfortable and show some hospitality!

(Let me know how it goes!)

1 comment:

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

You know, what I like is that you weren't afraid to keep it simple by serving simple food. Hot dogs with macaroni and cheese is great, kid friendly, and so easy, but best of all because you offered a simple meal you reduced your time in the kitchen thus increasing your time to visit.

So often I feel as though I have to put together a big, nice meal, especially if it's for folks we don't know well. I think this is a hinderance in more ways than one. I'm challenged to follow your example of having nice but simple fare. In the end, that probably makes the guests feel more at home anyway.