Just Open the Door: How One Invitation Can Change a Generation - Softcover

Schmidt, Jen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1433643073 ISBN 13: 9781433643071

Verlag: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

Change a generation with something as simple as an invitation.

For many of us, inviting people into our lives and homes feels more like inviting judgment on our entertaining skills and stress on our already maxed-out schedules. But what if you knew that opening your front door had the power to radically change the world? To make an impact and leave a legacy with everyday invitations?

Jen Schmidt has set out to reframe how we think about hospitality and to equip us to walk a road of welcome in our daily lives. Jen knows that every time we choose open-door living—whether in our homes or by taking hospitality on the road just like Jesus—those we invite in get to experience the lived-out Gospel, our kids grow up in a life-lab of generosity, and we trade insecurity for connection.

Just Open the Door is a personal yes-you-can guide to offering the life-changing gift of invitation. Whether you’re a seasoned host looking for renewed inspiration or a nervous newbie not sure where to begin, these personal stories, practical ideas, and poignant insights will give you the confidence you need to see your home as the most likely location for changing the world around you, one open door at a time.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jen Schmidt: For the last decade, Jen Schmidt has been encouraging, challenging, and cheering on women to embrace both the beauty and bedlam of their everyday lives on her popular lifestyle blog, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. With a variety of topics—from easy dinner ideas and personal finance to leaving a legacy—Jen equips others to live life to its fullest, reminding them it's the little things that really are the big things in life. A popular speaker, worship leader and founder/host of the annual Becoming Conference, Jen shares with humor and authenticity as she invites others to join her on this bumpy, beautiful life journey. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, five children, a few too many animals, and an available sofa for anyone who needs it.

(in)courage welcomes you to a place where authentic, brave women connect deeply with God and others. Founded in 2009 by DaySpring, the Christian products subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Inc., (in)courage is a vibrant online community that reaches thousands of women every day. Through the power of shared stories and meaningful resources, (in)courage celebrates the strength Jesus gives to live out our calling as God's daughters. Together we build community, celebrate diversity, and become women of courage.

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Just Open the Door

How One Invitation Can Change a Generation

By Jen Schmidt

B&H Publishing Group

Copyright © 2018 DaySprings Card, Inc.
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4336-4307-1

Contents

Introduction: In the Beginning, Just Start, 
1. What's Hospitality, Really?, 
Extra Helping: Open-Door Invitations, 
2. Trickle Down, 
3. The Do-Over, 
4. Hospitality On the Go, 
Extra Helping: Your House Is My House, 
5. Everyday Moments, 
6. Who Are My Neighbors?, 
7. The Power of One, 
Extra Helping: One Family, One Gospel, 
8. Food for Thought, 
9. The Potluck: Risks and Rewards, 
Extra Helping: The Pineapple Place, 
10. Come as You Are, 
11. Elephant in the Room, 
12. A Home That Says "Welcome", 
Extra Helping: A Legacy of Welcome, 
13. If Teacups and Coffee Cups Could Talk, 
14. Spontaneous vs. On Purpose, 
Extra Helping: Hosting Community Tables, 
15. Hospitality Rooted in Adoption, 
16. The Uncomfortable Yes, 
17. Hospitality as Worship: The Ministry of Presence, 
Notes, 

CHAPTER 1

What's Hospitality, Really?

A few months ago, I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in years. As we were catching up, she reminisced, "Our son still talks about the tornado party at your house. Remember that? He said it was the best party he'd ever been to."

Remember it? I still shudder thinking about it.

Even in hearing her bring it up, the anxiety of that night flushed all over me again. I could feel the hairs on my back start to cringe (and I'm pretty sure girls aren't supposed to have hair there). That day was one that descended into CHAOS, and by that I mean I felt like defaulting to Can't Have Anybody Over Syndrome. Chaos, I tell you. More than once it brought to mind the saying, "Hospitality is making your guests feel at home, even if you wish they were."

But since we're going to be sharing the good, bad, and ugly of life together in these pages, I'll start with this memory that still makes me shiver, even if now I can chuckle in remembrance.

We live on a large plot of land in the country. Think of the old classic Green Acres, starring the city girl who moved with her husband to a wannabe homestead, and that's me ... minus my dearly departed farm animals, but that's another story. So we're a frequent destination place for our city-suburban friends, especially if they have kids, looking for some wholesome, healthy fun. We've got plenty of that! But what we don't have is a big bonus room or basement with lots of indoor space where the little ones can run wild, so we enjoy having our larger gatherings outside. And that was my plan on the day that became our altogether unplanned tornado party.

The spectacular North Carolina weather sported mostly blue skies and perfect summer temps. More than seventy-five people had signed up to attend our Sunday school picnic, so I frantically raced against the clock to have everything ready — getting extra chairs and blankets set up outside, dumping soda and ice in the cooler, tending to last-minute details. As the first families pulled in, kids ran for our trampoline while the grown-ups greeted one another with hugs and handshakes, popping the tabs on their favorite cold drinks. This was going to be a blast. I did notice a few dark clouds rolling in, but I'd been checking the weather for days — like I always do — so I wasn't too concerned.

After about fifty people had arrived, I got an SOS text: "Jen, we were halfway to your house and had to turn around. The wind is swirling like crazy and it's pouring. Hail is heading your way too. Did you hear there's a tornado warning for our area?"

Immediately I did the "warning versus watch" check in my mind. I always forget which is which. One of them means a tornado has actually touched down. Which is it? Remembering the difference, I looked at the text again. Yes, she said "warning." We were in serious trouble.

As the thunderclouds raced in, as the winds picked up, as the rain began pelting down, my stomach dropped. We had no choice but to bring everyone inside. What in the world was I going to do with all these kids in the house? Yet no sooner did the challenge present itself than it doubled in intensity. Within a few minutes, just as the skies turned totally black, the power went out. Are you kidding me?

The darkness, though, I could actually deal with. Since candles are my favorite finds at yard sales, I'd accumulated quite a collection, and I rushed to hand them out, lighting up the family room and kitchen. Hospitality Tip 101: Candlelight makes everything better, every time. Our home is known for the overkill on candles. It's like white, twinkling lights at Christmastime. Always cozy. But country living also means we have our own well. Our water depends on electricity, which means when we lose power, we lose water, including the water necessary to flush our toilets. So for the next three hours — THREE HOURS! — we basically hosted our fifty-or-so guests with nothing but the use of an indoor porta-potty.

Not knowing what else to do with everyone, I led them in group games, anything I could think of. Parents and kids alike did crazy sing-alongs with the motions they'd learned at church. I'm pretty sure we even sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas"— right there in the middle of July — because when stressed and under pressure, you do what comes to mind. Let's be honest, that song is annoyingly long, and creating time-stretching activities for these kids was my only goal.

I could go on and on with the crazy details. No air-conditioning, no electricity, no flushing toilets. And yet for at least one of the kids who was there, when he thought back on it, he considered it the "best" party ever — because in the midst of total bedlam, we leaned into a level of creativity that never would have surfaced during an outdoor gathering.

The "tornado party" really did turn out to be a memorable event. In fact, my friend's comment was far from the first time I'd heard people speak fondly of it. On that day when I opened our door to the most imperfect hospitality ever served, God opened a door that shifted a lot of our hearts. Many friends throughout the years have pinpointed that day as a significant marker that began shaping their view of true hospitality. Who would have thought? Chaos came in, and grace flowed out. In all its unexpected simplicity.

* * *

Hospitality. What is it, really? When we overstress, overplan, and overthink inviting others into our lives and homes, hospitality becomes overwhelming to our souls. We become slaves to the expectations of others. We freeze at the mere thought of extending an invitation. Craving both perfection and polished perception, we fall victim to a cruel taskmaster. So how do we find the balance here? How do we open our door to the unknown without opening ourselves to dread and discouragement?

It comes down to knowing the difference between entertaining and hospitality.

In her flagship book Entertaining, Martha Stewart says, "Entertaining, like cooking, is a little selfish, because it really involves pleasing yourself with a guest list that will coalesce into your ideal of harmony, with a menu orchestrated to your home and taste, with decorations subject to your own eye. Given these considerations, it has to be pleasureful."

This one paragraph hints at the telltale difference. It all rests on this...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Broadman & Holman Publishers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1433643073
• ISBN 13: 9781433643071
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 224
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar