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Hospitality

When It’s Not Your Gift

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We call hospitality a gift. Some have it others don’t. A way of offering that some people are called to and others are not. Like teaching or preaching or healing. Here’s the problem: We’ve equated hospitality with hosting. The ability to have people in your home and serve them well is a gift. Some do this with ease, some do it because they have to, some because they feel called to. It’s an instinct for some, and for others it’s a learned way of living. And yet for others it’s awkward or exhausting or intrusive. But here’s some real truth: […]

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A grace story to share?

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Environments are powerful. They affect who we are and who we become. They can empower or shame. They can feed or starve. They can forgive or judge. They can heal or deepen wounds. Jesus is a different kind of environment. He is where people are welcomed. Fed. Healed. Touched. Forgiven. Blessed. He is where people belong. Grow. Learn. Change. Thrive. Live! He is an environment of grace. It oozes from his love, seeping into our crevices that are dirty, embarrassing, and unattractive. It suffocates our unworthiness and breathes life into our spirit – the very spirit of God. As the […]

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When Your Environment of Grace Makes People Feel Left Out

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Lydia Jane turned 10 on Saturday. We had a super special week planning her celebration together. We share a love for design and all things fashion. It was clear from the start we make great party partners! The most special part of planning a party {to me} is creating the guest list. Because in my hospitality heart, the party has everything to do with the people, and very little to do with the cute table { I always enjoy setting}. But….the guest list can also be complicated. Because in my hospitality heart, the question I always ask is How can […]

Environments of Grace: what do they look like?

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  I’m looking for writers who can sketch in words and stories what people and places who inhabit grace look like for the writer’s particular need for grace. Have you been in a situation where grace was what you needed and God provided it for you through a person, or a home, or a new culture, or a family, or a job? We would love to hear from you, learn from you! What was it about the way this person related to you, the words they spoke to you? What was it about the way the house held you? Or […]

How {not} to be Grace Giver

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When your daughter trips on a toy and spills coffee all over your table and rug, don’t jump up to grab paper towel and leave the little offender crying on the couch in front of a room full of people. When your five year old is acting sassy to you, don’t turn around and do the same thing back at her. When someone eats an ingredient you need for a recipe that night, don’t stop your foot and scream that everyone in the house is working against you. When someone shows you something he’s excited about, don’t point out the […]

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Gifting {with a heart of hospitality}

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Tis the season of giving and receiving. The very heart of hospitality. And knowing how to do both with grace is a gift in and of itself. I love to give gifts. My favorite ones to give are the I saw this and thought of you ones, given on normal days. Just because. I also love gift wrapping. It’s kind of silly to make a fuss over paper and bows when they’re merely untied, ripped off and usually thrown away (unless you’re my sweet grandmother who saves every bit). Above is a picture of the fun I had in Michaels […]

Heartland Hospitality

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There are very few shows worth writing about. Heartland is one of them. It’s a Canadian TV drama, loosely based on the Heartland books by Lauren Brookes. We started watching it last year on the recommendation of the dear Stockman’s. We love the story we’re living, but we also enjoy getting lost in fictional stories together, extracting truths and discussing the examples of love and struggle witnessed between the characters. The backdrop is beautiful Alberta. The environment is a family farm. And the interaction happens between a family and their community. And if that’s not enough to grab my attention, […]

Grace in the In-Between Places

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There are places that take you from here to there. The places in between where you’re leaving, and where you’re going. The unknown places where you’re searching, understanding, discovering, grieving, exploring, resting, anticipating. These places are bittersweet. They can taste of insecurity and loneliness. Or fear and unknowing. Sorrow and doubt. Anxiety with deep excitement. Complacency and fatigue. Hope and longing. Even pain and suffering. But when you depart from this in between place and you finally enter into your new reality – a new way of living — a seed of appreciation takes root. And you become thankful for […]

Don’t be Chicken: practice hospitality to the unbelieving world

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Jesus was often placed in situations where people were trying to trap him. Catch him in the act of disobedience to the law. Or trick him into answering a loaded question. But this Jesus couldn’t be fooled. In his wisdom, he responded with parables and questions and answers that needed clarifying. This was confusing to the disciples, and maybe even a little embarrassing. This was the guy they left everything to follow. This was the guy they stood next to when the crowds gathered to listen. Surely they were hoping for a leader with clear-cut answers, powerful comebacks, and responses […]

You Will Lack Nothing

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I’ve done motherhood both ways. This body swelling all on its own and me going along for the ride. Never having to tell it what to do. Never having to tell my heart how to love because it gently grew in beat with the living soul inside me. And then there are the times when the stretching and pulling happened to my spirit, not my belly. I expanded in ways I didn’t know was possible. And as these two babies grew inside other women’s bodies, the joy of the Lord grew inside me. The natural and unnatural expanding of heart […]

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