Expanded Definition of Hospitality.

I've been in some serious thought of late, specifically on the definition of hospitality. Conventionally, that is having people in your home. My thought is that true hospitality means, not necessarily welcoming people into your home, but first welcoming them into your life and your heart. I think we can also show hospitality by making a stranger, newcomer, or outsider feel welcome in our group of friends. An example of the former: My friends show me hospitality by coming to my home to help me out. They come over and help me because they love me and have let me become a part of the landscape of their lives. I think we all have many, daily opportunities to show hospitality, without having guests in our homes. The best kind of hospitality begins in the heart.

I was also thinking about prayer, and what constitutes it. When I am so concerned for the needs of my friend that I write a post asking others to pray for her, does that constitute a prayer? God knows our thoughts. Do we need to address Him directly? (This is more than a hypothetical question. I do ask you to pray for my friend Nichole in her health issues. There is a link to her blog on my profile.)

13 years: a retrospective

It began on a drizzly January day in the same chapel that was used for Goerge Burns' funeral. I was in a pretty, lacey, off-white "tea length" dress. Mr. M was in a tux. Three of my best friends wore beautiful checkered dresses of dark green and dark blue. Mr. M's three accompanying men wore tuxedos. Our mothers wore green dresses. Our fathers wore tuxedos. The first person to walk down the aisle was a bagpipe player wearing a blue and green kilt. Our guests were all happy. They smiled at the bagpiper, and laughed when my dad, a great athlete, rushed me down the aisle.
I had to admit recently in a confession to my friends, that if I were my mom, I wouldn't have let my 20-year old daughter, who lived at home in her ridiculously messy room, and who had never done her own laundry, get married. But it all worked out. It worked out fabulously. Mr. M and I are very happy. He taught me how to do laundry, and now our home has been a happy one. I would like to enumerate for you the number of pizzas we've had, movie nights we've hosted, and jokes we've laughed at . . . but that would take another 13 years. Suffice it to say that our marital cup overfloweth. One thing we do enjoy is a good Costco date. We usually send in some pictures ahead of time, and then we find a nice table in the shade (they have umbrellas on the indoor tables), and have some cheap chow, and then we pick up our pictures and find a nice display couch to sit on while we look at them.
13 is a good number.

Photos on Flickr.

Sikikology

I guess there is something to be said for subconscious thoughts. I wrote last week that I am glad to know that God is especially concerned for lonely people. As I look back on the past week, I can't think of a lonelier week that I've had. Sickness forced me to stay inside, and prohibited me from doing anything productive. I had to call on friends to bring me lunch. I couldn't read my wonderful Wodehouse book due to the shaking. I couldn't even get to my computer to connect with my friends. I woke this morning with the horrible (and thankfully unfounded) fear that I may find myself being taken care of, doing nothing better with my life than merely surviving, in a nursing home before I am 40. It was a bad, bad week. But tomorrow will be better.

Ecclesiology

I ordered a book this morning called Face to Face: Meditations on Hospitality and Friendship, by Steve Wilkins. The reviews of this book have me anxious to get it in the mail. Ecclesiology is my favorite practical doctrine, probably because it is so practical. We all-even those of us who live in the Midwest-relate to other people, in our neighborhoods, in church, in the supermarket. I love reading about how God has always intended for His chosen people to relate to each other in a special, familial, way. I am so comforted to read in the Bible about God's special concern for orphans and widows, and His repeated commands to care for them in their loneliness and see to their needs. I am also glad to read in the Psalms that, "He sets the lonely in families."
Just thinking about this beautiful doctrine, this family God has created for us to be a part of, made me take my old copy of The Crisis of Caring by Jerry Bridges off the shelf. It is about true, Biblical fellowship; the kind of fellowship that not only shares and smiles together, but also suffers and serves together.
I can't wait to read Face to Face, and naturally, you will be reading my thoughts on the book before too long.

A Gray Monday

Aha!! I got it! The reason I like S.F. vacations so much. It's because of the morning activity. The trash trucks beeping, the Chinese people waving around swords in the park, the shopkeepers sweeping the sidewalks. I get a small taste of this here in my suburban home (and it's all extra cozy to watch the city wake up on a gray day), but I am submersed in that morning activity when we stay in the middle of densely packed San Franciscan streets.
I believe the Bible is necessary for becoming a Christian and learning to live like one, but I also believe the Bible is true even in everyday matters, like the Psalms that tell us "joy comes in the morning." I know I run the risk of offending my readers, but I must say, I do love the morning. There is nothing I like better than to get up early and walk down the street to a local coffee shop, get my coffee and sit on the steps outside, watching construction workers build a new building. If the morning sky is overcast, so much the better.
I hope you all enjoy this morning, and make the most of the day!

Another Beautiful Sunday

Home again. I don't trust my health enough to go to church. I feel on the verge of illness, and don't want to subject the whole church to my self-pity. So I did some neglected cleaning . . . and neglected blogging, and I plan to do some Rufus-walking later. Right now, as I do some light and shallow, trivial blogging, I can't get past the feeling of San Francisco. Maybe it's the sun, the blue sky, the je no se qua of the morning, but I really feel like I should be in San Fran, my favorite city by the bay. I think it's the sky . . . the sky's so blue today, and the sky's always a beautiful deep blue in S.F. I feel like I should be able to step outside and admire tall Victorian houses with fun little narrow steps, and then go to Mama's at the base of Coit Tower for the best breakfast I've ever had. When these not-in-San-Francisco blues come over me, I can sometimes get relief by watching an episode of Monk, and being vicariously there. Just Like Heaven also works well for this recurring malady of mine. I love the scenery in that movie.

Thoughts Brought on by a Beautiful Day

I sat outside in my new backyard, with the sun on my back and a cool breeze sweeping across my body. I was super comfortable and extremely content, sitting there reading about Virginia Woolf's thoughts on women and history and education and money. I am reading this book, A Room of One's Own, collected essays on the topic of women and fiction. Virginia Woolf writes a lot about the necessity of the writer to have money, and I thought how true that is for any profession or hobby. I thought about all the life-and-death scenarios that could have a completely different outcome depending on available money; for instance, all the homeless people who die from exposure due to the lack of money to pay for some shelter. And on this, for me, beautiful and comfortable morning, some of my closest friends are suffering greatly. How can the same day be received so differently by people? What can I do about that? Not too much, not as much as I'd like to, but I can do a little. I'm still thinking . . .

On My Way to Technology Geekdom

As I watched the YouTube video (on our television) of Steve Ballmer of Microsoft making the keynote address for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I was fascinated! He spoke of some metaphorical technological "cloud" integrating the three screens so prevalent in our lives-the TV screen, the computer screen, and the mobile device screen. I've always considered myself more of a dancing on the beach, making granola and hiking type person, but as I watched and thought about the speech and thought about the technology in my life, I began to realize what kind of a person I really am. I would still dance on the beach if someone took me, and make granola if someone taught me how, and I do love to hike, but after I did any of these things, I would write about it on my blog. There are days when I cannot venture out into the world due to sickness, so my blog is my mainline, my connection, to the outside world. And not only to my friends; I can connect with people I don't know through my blog. It is amazing to me how quickly and thoroughly technology has invaded, and in many instances, taken over, my life.

A Matter of Priorities

I felt awful when I had to rescind my offer to drive my friend to her next few chemotherapy appointments. My condition, when the effects flare up, makes driving impossible. And the last few days my health has been very on-and-off. I never know when a bad flare up is going to happen. I feel pretty useless, not being able to commit in advance to doing things to help others. Some days, like yesterday, the shaking had stopped when I awoke from a nap, so I quickly put on my walking shoes and took Rufus for a walk. The shaking started back up two minutes after we got home. So it really is a matter of priorities, choosing what one task is most important that day, knowing that I may only be able to do one.

Imagining the Unimaginable

I am not a fan of sci-fi. It freaks me out, the idea of things I've never heard or seen. However, I do see great benefit in developing the ability to imagine new and unfamiliar ideas. This seems essential to me in Christianity, especially when contemplating Heaven, since "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." The ability to imagine a better world is the cornerstone of faith and hope, and essential to any thought of Heaven. I think we do a great injustice to our children when we try and shield them from the musings of the imagination. That is my stance.