Hospitality is...Lemonade

Have you ever walked into somebodys home...even to quickly drop off something...and been offered a drink of water or a cup of tea? It is the most welcome and kind guesture anybody could offer a guest. Even if you are on the run, it is the thought that counts! It is one way of saying: "Stay. I care about you. How are you?"

When you have guests in your home...YES, even family!!!! It is your chance to comfort and to offer hospitality. It is your opportunity to love and to listen. I know. We all have days where we are running a million directions, trying to balance family, friends, sports, laundry, grocery shopping, work, dental appointments and everything else, but it is vital that we stay in the WORD so that at any given time, we are able to offer comfort to those who enter our homes...even if we feel like we have nothing to offer!
Remember, sometimes we just need to listen!

Here is a little assignment for us. I am not telling you what to do...but I want you to see how great it feels to do something very simple in offering the next person who graces your home with a drink, okay? What do you think? Are you up for it? I'm doing the same thing!

Let's make it fun! Since picnic season is here...it will serve two purposes.

READY?

Now remember, we are anticipating. That means we are planning for and looking forward to someone dropping in. SO, since my dishwasher always seems to be full...and not everybody likes drinking water or lemonade out of champagne flutes...I love to fill glass jars. {My friends always give me grief for my glass jars, but hey...!} Mason jars are great or you may recycle other glass jars, too. Go ahead and fill them with ice water or whatever else you would like.

A half gallon of Newman's Own Lemonade is less than $2 and it fills about 7 pint jars. I fill the jars with ice, top it off with lemonade, add a slice of lemon and a sprig of mint {thank you, Jess!} I screw the lids on and put them all in a glass 9X13 pan, so they are ready to go. This eliminates sticky bottoms all over the fridge.




Have your children help you with this. It is a great way of letting them know that you will be exercising "hospitality" to your guests by offering them a drink. This is the perfect time to explain hospitality to them. They will become hospitality minded very quickly!

Having these drinks ready will also be great to grab before sports activities picnics or for your children to offer their friends. Another thing I do...which saves on glasses is to have punched tags {I make them out of scrap paper!} available...that way, when your children are done with their drinks, they can mark them with their initial or name and keep it cold in the fridge for later use!







SO, if it is water, lemonade or iced tea you will be serving...the most important thing is that you will be SERVING, comforting and caring!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

IF YOU LIVE IN THE AREA: I will be offering a HOMEMAKING 101 CLASS on Thursday, MAY 26th from 7-9. The class is $20 and I have four spots left. The topic for the evening is PICNIC PACKIN'. I am really excited about this. It will be a fun evening of ideas, snacks, recipes and a couple of drawings! Please e-mail me for the details! Hope you can join us!

Share

Pin It