Helpful Resources

Over at Revive Our Hearts there are some useful resources available for downloading and printing. Here are some, but you can find more here.

• 10 Reasons You Can't Afford Not to be Hospitable
• A Call to Biblical Womanhood
• Biblical Portrait of Womanhood
• Men & Women: Similarities & Differences
• 10 Questions for Explore & Understand a Church
• 31 Days of Praying for Your Pastor
• 31 Days of Praying for Your Pastor's Wife
• Follow the Leaders
• 15 Ways to Please Your Husband
• 30 Day Husband Encouragement Challenge
• 31 Days of Praying for Your Husband
• Personal "Hedges"
• Mirror Mirror On the Wall: The Decision to Live Your Life for God's Glory
• Sexual Purity
• 23 Great Questions to Ask Your Kids
• 12 Ways to Pray for Your Child's Future Mate
• 15 Ways to Make Prayer a Natural Part of Family Life
• 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Children
• How's Your Love Life?

9Marks Family & Parenting E-News

The latest e-newsletter from 9Marks is available with some reviews and articles on Family and Parenting. You can download the whole thing on PDF here or follow these links:

• Wanted: Kingdom Families
• Why Families Matter to God
• How Families Minister to the Church & the World
• Raising Boys vs Raising Girls
• Learning to Multiply
• 39 Lessons, 20 Tips & 10 "Don'ts" for Parenting
• Favourite Children's Bibles

• Book Review: Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr
• Book Review: Practicing Hospitality by Pat Ennis & Lisa Tatlock
  

As Good as Guests

Yesterday we considered how we often tend to think about hospitality beginning with those outside our homes rather than starting with our own families. I was really challenged by this and as I began to read on, the authors of Practicing Hospitality have some good suggestions on how we can practice good hospitality with our families.

At this stage in our family life, my kids enjoy having people around to our house for lunch, dinner or just a general get-together on a weekend. However, this is something that I never want to take for granted with my kids. I recognise that there may come a day (and I remember those days when I was young and at home) when this might not be the case. One thing I want to work hard to prevent is any form of resentment, or feelings of "second best" in the lives of my children. This book offers some sound wisdom on this issue and encourages me to treat my family "as good as guests", if not better than.

Often we treat our guests better than our family. Establishing the habit of treating our family as we would a guest will assist us in communicating our love to our family. Extending hospitality to our family allows them to reap the same blessings our guests receive in our home. Also, we are modeling for our children how to honour guests - they learn from our example. Treating our family as guests also reinforces the concept of family first.

Ennis & Tatlock then go on to offer 6 ways in which we can achieve this:

1. Prepare their favourite foods.
2. Set the table.
3. Check your appearance!
4. Create a warm atmosphere
5. Screen your phone calls.
6. Plan special events.

These six things have become second nature for me when it comes to being hospitable with those outside my home. However, I must confess that I am far from making these a priority when it comes to my husband and children. I'm left humbled thinking about the last time I made my husband and son my home cooked lasagna (their favourite), or the last time we went beyond the mere knife & fork and kid plates at dinner time. Or what about taking time to brush my hair and change that top that the baby spat up on before my husband gets home?

I can't even remember the last time I bothered to light a candle when sitting down for a meal - and hey, the kids always think that's fun because they get to blow it out at the end! And how many times am I quick to jump up and answer the phone, and proceed to engage in a conversation with someone other than my family? I must confess, I'm alright at planning special events, yet even at that it's only limited to a birthday, anniversary or some holiday celebration. Wouldn't it be fun to plan a special fun dinner just for no other reason than to see the joy and excitement on the the faces of my kids?

If I love my family more than any other, I must treat them better, if not as good as any other.

Hospitality & Family

I'm reading Practicing Hospitality: The Joy of Serving Others at the moment. It's full of gems and insight. Here's a few words that have challenged me.

While the ministry of hospitality often focuses on those outside our home, it should begin within our home. If this occurs, generosity and kindness extended to others become an extension of our family hospitality...

If the Lord has given us a family, extending hospitality to our family is our first priority.. Hospitality towards others then becomes a natural ouworking or extension of what we are already practicing within our own homes.

Why is this important? The authors, Pat Ennis & Lisa Tatlock explain:

• For the sake of our integrity. Neglecting to extend hospitality to our family can result in violating our God-given priorities-loving our husbands and children....To model hospitality to the world and neglect to practice it in our own home is hypocrisy, and our integrity is compromised.
• For the sake of our children. Neglecting to include our children in hospitality opportunities might create resentment in them. If our children feel unloved, abandoned, or ignored while we diligently extend hospitality to friends and strangers, we have opened the door for developing bitterness and animosity toward hospitality in our children...How tragic for our children to loathe hospitality because they have felt a lack of care while we ministered to others.
• For the sake of the gospel. Neglecting to extend hospitality to our family can discredit our witness....The manner in which we serve and love our family should reflect the transforming power of the gospel in our own life.

Hospitality

I found this post full with tips on hospitality, not least four things to keep in mind as you seek to cultivate a hospitable heart.

• Hospitality isn't based on having the "right" house.
• Hospitality isn't always convenient.
• Hospitality isn't always comfortable.
• Hospitality is always about serving others.
  

Nicole at 168 hours is continuing her series on hospitality also. Here are some of her recent posts on the subject.

• Hospitality, Pastor's & Pastor's Wives
• Hospitality & Kids
• Hospitality & Singleness