Nurture a Habit of Hospitality {5 Days of Making Your Home a Haven}

This post is part of the 5 Days of Making Your Home a Haven series.

Today is the last day in our series! I hope you have been encouraged and inspired in your homemaking journey. This week I have focused on our heart, our atmosphere, our family and our home. I wanted to end our discussion of creating a haven with a more outward focus.

As Christians, I think it is only prudent to include hospitality as part of our haven-making endeavors. We are encouraged in Scripture to open our homes and lives to others and serve them as the Lord leads us.

“Cheerfully share you home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.” -1 Peter 4:9

We can come up with a lot of excuses for not offering hospitality to others. Here are the most common ones I’ve heard (or have used myself!)

4 Reasons You May Not Invite Someone Over

1. Your house isn’t clean enough. If you’ve read my book, you know that “clean enough” is a matter of personal opinion. We must not allow our perfectionist tendencies to keep us from reaching out to people in need. If you’re home is truly in disarray, learn a few simple housekeeping tricks, give yourself grace and invite somebody over. Chances are their home is a little messy too and they’re not coming over to inspect the layer of dust on the window sills.

2. You don’t know what to talk about. I”m an introvert, so I totally relate to this.. but it’s still a cop-out. Sorry! If you truly have difficulty speaking to people you don’t know very well, consider using conversation starters or playing cards or a board game to ease the tension.

3. You can’t cook. Hospitality doesn’t not have to include a shared meal. And it’s perfectly okay to order pizza or initiate a little potluck where everyone brings something to share.

4. You don’t have time. In my opinion, if you are too busy to build community and reach out to others, than you are too busy. This is something I’ve been preaching to myself lately and am attempting to remedy. Sometimes you need to cut out good things in your schedule so you have time to focus on the most important things. While hospitality may not be high on your priority list all the time, if should be something we strive for an a fairly consistent basis.

Obviously there are some circumstances that are truly warrant a legitimate excuse for not inviting others over to your house. However, most of us to not fall into this category. A large majority of homemakers (myself included) probably need a little encouragement to strive for a more hospitable attitude.

So, how do we nurture a habit of hospitality? The best way to become more hospitable is to simply invite someone over to your house. Choose a person (or family), set a day, plan a meal and/or activities and enjoy the fellowship!

May we be faithful to nurture a habit of hospitality so that we can share Christ’s love with all who enter our home. As we step out in faith and minister to others, our homes will become a haven–not only to our family, but to everyone God sends our way.

Who could you minister to through hospitality in your home?

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This series is part of a collaborate series of 16 bloggers, dedicated to inspiring others toward more intentional living. Check out all the other series by clicking on the graphic below or here: 5 Days of Intentional Living.