Every home is as unique as the people who live there. There is no end to the creative possibilities and joy you can find in the process of making your house a home.
We as human beings have a natural God-given desire to nest and nurture. So much of our everyday life is lived at home…it should be place to retreat, relax, restore, replenish, and rejuvenate.
“Living beautifully” has nothing much to do with the material things, it’s really an attitude. Have you ever been in a space that looks fantastic but gives you a cold and uninviting vibe? I have. So, let’s look at Heartening your Home through hospitality.
Many years ago, I entered into a partnership with 2 friends to create a retail fabric and interior design store. We desired to make a difference in people’s lives through the art form of interior beauty. We wanted our focus to be on more than just fabric, so we geared it toward serving the whole person by seeing them not only as a client but also as a friend.
Our motto: Love God, Love People, Love Fabric
With our priorities set, our goal were, and still is to “Bless the Guest”. Though I have now retired, I learned a lot about hospitality through the motto and mission of Front Door Fabrics. What I discovered is the main focus isn’t about the all the latest trends. Though they are nice and needed to keep a business open, it’s more about helping people learn to relax and enjoy their homes as God intended.
Why?
So that they will feel good about their space and open their doors wide to others.
Phoebe Howard owner of Mrs. Howard’s in Charlotte says, “You should always be the best decoration in your own home.”
It’s all about people, it’s really always about people, you and the ones that visit, dine and dwell there.
Why did we name the shop FRONT DOOR FABRICS? The name represents a beginning, a threshold, a place of welcome… always ushering and urging people to come in!
Front Doors are full of intrigue and wonder and when opened, things happen! Entering through a front door is an invitation to connect and set the stage to create relationship and possibility.
So the big question is…what does it really mean to “Practice hospitality?” (Romans 12:13b)
Through radical hospitality we can learn the art of living beautifully. The motto in the new book The Nesting Place says, “it doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.” I simply love that!
I can’t tell you how many times I scurried around at a gathering I was hosting and totally missed my guests. I was seeking to make sure everything was perfect. Funny thing is…perfect is never really perfect.
Perfection was found once, in a man named Jesus. He knew hospitality. He always had time for people…He was and is still all about seeking and stirring the hearts of people. He continually stands at the door of our hearts …knocking and waiting for us to open the door to relationship with Him.
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and with with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20)
Home is where the heart is and Jesus is all about the heart. If our treasure is where our heart is then, He has much to teach us. Jesus, the greatest teacher ever to walk the earth, offers great wisdom. He longs for us to open our hearts and our doors.
“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” (Proverbs 24:3)
Wisdom and knowledge build a home. Wisdom and knowledge come through a relationship with Jesus, the ultimate creator of beauty and the very first designer.
He knows hospitality is loving people. People are the real treasure; people bring life and fill the beautiful rooms.
Can Home and Hospitality really be more about blessing than impressing?
Yes.
It’s a paradigm shift in thinking. We use our time, talents and resources to create an atmosphere of blessing. It’s about building memories with family and friends. It’s about introducing them to the One who forever delights in them. It’s about sight, sounds and smells that trigger joy and well-being…. your guests may never remember what your drapes looked like but they will remember how you made them feel.
Nothing is more beautiful than a gathering that is comfortable and enjoyable. I once read,
“Hospitality is about making room in ourselves, not merely about making room in our homes. Its about inviting others into our lives, its not a part time affair, it’s a lifestyle to be lived, even when our home isn’t ‘put together’. It’s about embracing people as they are, not as we wish they could be. It’s the very fulfillment of loving your neighbor as yourself’.“
This concept blew me away.
The goal is to love well and use the Home to do it. People were made to enjoy beauty, to create it, capture and reveal it. Don’t you think we can reach more people with our doors open than closed? YES! We can move the kingdom forward with this kind of radical hospitality using our heartened homes for good and there within learn the true art of living beautifully.
“Live creatively, friends!” Galations 6:1 msg
Additional Resources:
The Nesting Place Book by Myguillyn Smith
Motto: It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. (www.thenester.com)
My Heart–Christ’s Home: A Story for Young & Old by Robert Boyd Munger