Hidden Hospitality
For those of you who don’t know, the biggest part of my life story is being affiliated with the Air Force. For the first 21 years of my life, I was an Air Force “brat”, meaning ‘the child of an active duty airman;’ and for the following 22 years, I was an Air Force spouse. Only recently, in 2022 did my time with the Air Force officially come to an end with the retirement of my husband. With the exception of one assignment, I have never lived in one place longer than 3 years. Not everyone’s experience as a nomad is the same. It can feel like you are just bobbing in the water with nothing to keep you from sinking or being tossed around. I was very fortunate to have an amazing experience. My life vest was Jesus and He used hundreds of people like you to hold me up and keep me from sinking. That is hospitality.
Hospitality is defined as generous treatment, reception, or disposition. So, what does it mean to show biblical hospitality? Of course there is no “official” definition. But I like to think of it as treatment, reception, or disposition that is filled with the fruits of the spirit. In case you need a reminder, as I oftentimes do, the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
So, how do we walk this out? I would like to share a few examples from my own life of how others have shown biblical hospitality to me.
Love seems like such an obvious one, doesn’t it? Sometimes, many times, the smallest act of love can speak so much volume. When my firstborn was two weeks old, my husband left for a three month deployment to the Middle East. Over the next week, my mailbox was flooded with cards from our church small group. Each one noted how we were being prayed for and some included specific scripture. Being overwhelmed with worry for my young husband’s safety, I adopted one of those very verses to pray over daily. My fear turned into hope as I opened each card. Those cards cost a few dollars, a few minutes of time, and a trip to the post office. But the impact they had on me was immeasurable.
Joy is not the same thing as happiness. Joy is a deep seated feeling of knowing that everything really will be okay because we have Jesus. Joy overflowed from my friend Kathy when I called her to ask if she could pick me and my baby up from the shop because my car needed work. She didn’t just say ‘yes,’ she exclaimed, “I would LOVE to.” Until then, I was so scared of asking for help when Brett was deployed and her one sentence reply let me know it was safe to do so.
Kindness is the quality of being caring and helpful. It can look like using your talents, skills, or even your professional titles to lend a hand to someone. One Thanksgiving, I found myself in the middle of nowhere, Massachusetts with quite a severe respiratory infection. I took to facebook to complain about it, as one did in 2009, and within an hour I had a friend calling a prescription into a local Walgreens. She saved me from being sick in an unknown place and likely saved me from an even more severe infection.
Faithfulness is being steadfast in affection and allegiance, even when it isn’t easy; even when it downright puts you out. Faithfulness is rearranging your schedule and life to make room to show up. During one of Brett’s deployments, my dad unexpectedly passed away. A handful of friends drove hundreds of miles, across state lines to simply be there at my dad’s funeral. Seeing familiar faces from throughout my life made me feel held.
So, where do I even begin?
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit. If a man does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers.” We must remain rooted in Christ in order to share fruit with others because we cannot share fruit that we do not have.
Just this week, I came across a wonderful post about the fruit of the spirit that deeply resonated with me. We are called to bear fruit, not produce fruit. Doesn’t that take the pressure off? Jesus simply invites us to come, sit at His feet, read His word, communicate with Him always. It is when we accept this invitation to abide, to remain in Him, that we will then begin to bear fruit.
Here are three simple things I strive to do daily to remain in Christ.
1. Pray.
At its core, prayer is communication with God. There is certainly a time and place for deep, reverent prayer, But prayer is also praising God for His exquisite creation as you watch the sun set each night or thanking Him for His provision as you cook dinner or even praying for protection over your children as you fold their laundry. It doesn’t have to be complicated. God knows our hearts. He doesn’t call us to come with eloquent, grammatically correct prayer. He simply calls us to come.
2. Read scripture and commit it to memory
Florence Littauer, a speaker from the early 2000s said this about scripture; “It’s amazing how the Lord can give us a verse when we need it. But it’s very difficult for the Lord, even the Lord Himself, to pull a verse out of us that we never put in there.” Admittedly, this is something in my life that needs a lot of work. But it’s work that will not return void.
3. Listen to Christian music
For some of us, music has a way of imprinting on our minds. It is true for me that in quiet moments, I will find myself singing a song I have recently heard. When I’m driving in silence, when I’m taking a shower, when I’m trying to fall asleep EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, these words will be on repeat. So, for me, these words matter. A recently popular singer painted an accurate picture when she said these things can get stuck in your head like espresso. I don’t know about you, but when I am laying awake at 2 am worrying, I don’t want to be thinking about espresso. I want to rest soundly on the peace that can only be provided by my Father, Jehovah-Shalom. There are so many amazing Christian artists out there, there truly is something for everyone.
The more you curl yourself up at the feet of Jesus and fill your minds with His words, you will be surprised to see the fruit that He produces. You will find your tanks of love, peace, and joy are quickly filling up. Your patience and gentleness are miraculously expanded. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and even self-control are suddenly becoming second nature. And when we are filled with these fruits, it is only natural that they will start to spill out into every aspect of our lives. We will smile more at people in the grocery store, we will extend grace to the slow driver in front of us when we are in a hurry, we will be quick to compliment our server’s beautiful hair at lunch, and yes, we will even be brave enough to invite people into our home. Because the joy we have in Jesus is only multiplied when we share it with others.
