Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday to Christmas! I love the food, colors, the coming together and being thankful. We love hosting and having both of our families over our home. When we bought our house we felt the Lord had given us this beautiful home to share with friends and family to be able to host and bring people together.
A few days before Thanksgiving I had a conversation with a friend, we talked about "Why do we we do the things we do?" mainly speaking about crafts and decorating, what is the motive? Am I doing this for the glory of man? Am I boasting in myself?
The question lingered and as Thanksgiving drew near I asked myself, why do I like having people over? If you have been over our home you have probably noticed I love to decorate and when it comes to parties you know I like to go all out! I began to question my heart. Why do I like to throw parties and decorate like crazy?
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24 is a prayer that I do I not pray enough. In my quest to figure out my intentions this verse came to mind. We had been told more than once before that they saw the gift of hospitality in us. But what did it mean? What does the bible say about hospitality?
After searching in the scriptures the Lord has revealed to me that hospitality is not only a gift but a commandment and a tool for ministry to share the gospel. I have found that it is ok to take the time to decorate for special occasions but when I get caught up in trying to set the right mood, have the perfect scenery and my focus is no longer on how I can serve and bless my guests then I am no longer doing the work of the Lord.
I'm reminded of Mary and Martha. I find myself being a Mary and Martha in a strange Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sort of way. Sometimes I'm too busy trying to get everything ready when the Lord is saying, "Relax, come and sit by feet and enjoy yourself." I realized that I need to slow down and just enjoy life, enjoy the moment, the people, the food, RELAX! Its ok if something doesn't match or we have to use plastic silverware! We're opening up our home to be a blessing to others not show off, instead I need to show off Christ! I can do that by showing respect and serving my husband, speaking kindly when my little brother or sister get on my nerves, including the gospel when we pray for dinner and just sit and enjoy my guests as Mary sat with Jesus!
Well, needless to say as I ramble on with my thoughts this is what I am learning and the areas I am praying to grow in.
- Opening my home to neighbors and strangers so that they leave as friends.
- When I decorate for parties remember that it's to bless my guests and make them feel that I took the time for them because they are special guests.
- If I don't have time to clean or decorate my door should still remain open!
- Everything doesn't have to be perfect! Relax and take the time to enjoy myself.
And here is how I know that the Lord has really been trying to get my attention in this area of my life. So I had written all of the above a couple of weeks ago right after Thanksgiving but had not had the time to post it and then this past sunday at our church the Christmas skit was about this lady that kept being let down because she wanted the perfect Martha Stewart type of Christmas and everything kept falling apart and she was too caught up in all the fluff and not the true meaning of Christmas. By the way do you think its a coincidence that Martha Stewart and Martha from the bible share the same first name? I just realized that as I was writing this!
Well here is our 2012 Thanksgiving! It was so much fun and I was thankful this year I got to share Thanksgiving with the love of my life and my handsome cutie son!
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| Turkey is done! |
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| I'm currently obsessed with chalkboards! |
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| The dinner table! |
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| Candles make me very happy! |
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| We wrote what we were thankful for |
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| Me and my beautiful momma! |
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| Me with my soul sista! Best friend anyone could ask for! |
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| Chilling! Look at my in the kitchen being Martha! |
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| Ta-da! |
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| The sight makes me very happy! |
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| My turkey! |
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| Yum!!! |
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| Ending the night with the traditional Loteria and Left Righ Center game! |
