Last week, I moved into my own apartment for the first time.
Ironically enough, however, I have maybe spent 3 nights alone in my new home.
As a highly functioning introvert having my own home is a dream. Don’t get me wrong: I miss my roommates. But they, better than anyone, know the amounts of alone time I need so that I can use my extroverted side. I love to have people around, but I like to be alone. However, in my first week if living “alone” I have felt like I am living in community more than ever before. I have a home to open & I have no one to check with. Wow…freeing.
Opening my home, in the midst of moving chaos, to old and new friends alike has been humbling, overwhelming, joyful and so much more. I love to be hospitable, but I like to have all my ducks in a row first in an ideal world. Let me be clear: there were no ducks in a row here. For those of you that know my messy nature, congratulations. You’ve seen the real me. I’m trying to not scare the others away just yet.
Yesterday I was able to really start hanging things on the walls, setting pictures up, hung curtains with the skill and help of friends, and slowly my home has been coming together. One of those things that only happens over time; this place is starting to feel like mine. Finally.
Because I have been running around like a mad woman for the last 10 days, I decided to have church on my own this morning, in the comfort of my new living room. I figure God created a day of rest, so I’d spend mine here, in His presence.
The podcast, Together: The Power of the Living Room is by one of my favorite authors Shauna Neiquist. Part of a Willowcreek Church series, I figured it was a cute name. Little did I know, just how much I would be called out in my own living room. Mornings like these I feel God reinforcing his love for me whether I come to his throne showered & in a formal church, or stinky, in my pajamas, on my couch. He just wants to meet us where we are.
As you may have guessed, today I was reminded of the true power of our living rooms and of the power in hospitality. Shauna directed our attention to Romans 12-16 & Acts 2, Chapters that remind us that the power of the early church was built in living rooms & through hospitality. These rooms weren’t perfect, decorated and clean, filled with gourmet food. They were real, they were messy, and they were sacred.
I have pages of notes from one 40 minute podcast, which is rare for someone like me. I listen, because if I write, I miss something else. I am the queen of mental notes…which far too often are forgotten over time.
However, on the pages of notes I have been reminded of several things: Hospitality is just giving someone a place to be when otherwise they would be alone. It is not a competitive sport meant to entertain; it is about community. It is about meeting people’s essential needs. It is about listening to them, making sure they feel heard, loved, known, and better about themselves after time together and not better about you and your hosting skills.
Hospitality is about creating a sacred space; a place where people can experience God’s love through you. Because maybe if we let people in to see our messy homes, our fears, our quirks, our brokenness, our mistakes, etc. and allow them to love us despite our faults, like we love them despite theirs, maybe- just maybe- then we can start to believe that a perfect God can do the same. That a perfect God DOES do the same.
This week as I have had people ask to stay, or ask to visit, I have chuckled to myself a little because I knew that God was showing me something; that God IS teaching me something. He is teaching me about the church, and about community. He is preparing me to be a guest, and he is preparing me to be in community. Whether it is in the sacred space I have created in my tiny apartment living room, or in a two person tent in the middle of Cambodia.
Wherever I am, wherever the Church is- God will show up. Love begins when we let people in. Opening our homes is a risk for people to see the imperfections of our day to day lives, and it is a chance for people to see us, for people to know us, and for the Church to be what it is supposed to be. The living room is a land for the living, a space for dreaming, and a place to do life.
This week, I am grateful that my home has been filled, and that I will continue to fill it while it is still mine. I am thankful for the early church and being real, messy, and frazzled. I am thankful for the people that have welcomed me into their homes when otherwise I would be alone, and I am thankful for the opportunity to do the same.
My prayer for this new home, for this season of restoration and hospitality is that people would feel seen, heard, known, and loved in the walls of my home. That they will know the love of their Creator, and that the words spoken in this space will be words of life, hard truths, and love (And a lot of jokes).
This morning, I am grateful for hospitality, and for this little hobbit hole I call home for now. 9 times out of 10 when someone asks to stay or come visit, the answer will be a yes, because I have been given this space for a reason.
I am thankful for this season.
