The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy for my family. One weekend, we had our Happy Hour Fellowship (HHF) gathering with 35+ people. (HHF is a special event where we come together to share our faith, enjoy good food, and strengthen our bonds of friendship.) The following Sunday, we hosted around 20 guests for another HHF event and then we welcomed my family a week later for a game night. And this Wednesday, we will have 16 people staying with us for a few days. When asked to host these gatherings, my husband and I prayed and sought the Lord's guidance. We also requested our kids to think about it and let us know their thoughts. It was one of those moments where we were reminded why the Lord blessed us with this home and how we should use it to bless others. After some consideration, we unanimously voted to host and to host well.
As you can imagine, it's a good amount of preparing. My husband has been deep cleaning daily. Sometimes, you will find him steam cleaning our carpets twice/a day because we have two furry family members, Lexi and Toto, who occasionally have accidents. And then there's grocery shopping at a few different stores on several days because we have a specific menu, and my husband always wants to serve with freshest ingredients. For the most part, everything goes smoothly. We're all having fun and getting along splendidly as we prepare.
But then it's the day of HH, and a few hours before everyone comes over. It's coming to the wire, and the tension starts seeping in. Sensitivity over minor things creep up, and then it feels like horns are popping out of our heads. Our irritation meter goes overboard because we're working against the clock and still have a few items on our to-do list.
Just before our last gathering, we experienced what I can only describe as a spiritual attack. I could sense it and warned my family about it. The enemy often employs this tactic, attempting to disrupt our peace and enthusiasm for the gathering. In one way, we won because we recognized the ploy but lost because it took us longer to resolve. We didn't nip it in the bud like we should have.
We have 13 guests traveling from Korea, who will be staying with us for a few days before they leave for Chicago and three additional guests who live in the US but will stay with us to help host the 13. My kids are giving up their rooms so the guests can stay in their rooms, and the five of us will be camping out in our master bedroom. It will be like the good ol' days when the kids were younger, and we used to have movie nights in my and my husband's room. It was something we all looked forward to. Back then, everyone wanted to sleep in our room. My husband and I had to kick them out and get them back in the habit of sleeping in their bedrooms. Now, it's a tiny bit different, it will be four adults and one 16-year-old sharing our bedroom and a bathroom. It will be a tight squeeze and challenging, but I'm sure it will be fun and memorable.
This visit will be the ultimate test to beat the enemy at his own game. We are preparing to be hospitable hosts. At the end of this visit, I'm hoping hospitality will be synonymous with our name. We will do our best to love on our guests BUT also on one another. May we be more unified than ever so we will always agree to open our home to strangers, friends, and family. I hope we will see that serving others and being hospitable are gifts God has given us for this season and that we will genuinely enjoy it. Actually, the ultimate test will be when my kids are older and welcome others into their homes and make people feel like it's a home away from home. When that happens, it will be a full circle of hospitality.
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