Accepting Hospitality

I had the opportunity to be in Adoration for two whole hours today.  Two hours!  And I almost passed it up, because I was hesitant to accept someone's hospitality.

I was invited by a very kind woman to enjoy Jesus' presence for two hours this morning, and she was even offered to take care of the children so the mothers could be with Jesus, undistracted.  My eldest is almost eleven, and I have never done something like this before.  Never!  My older kids have been left for a class, or at a friend's house occasionally, but I've never left any of them in any sort of childcare.  And you know what?  They did just fine.  All of them, even the 15 month old.  Sure, he stayed pretty close to his big sister, but they all had a good time and everyone enjoyed the experience.  And thanks to this good woman's hospitality, I got to sit, undistracted, at Adoration and I got to go to Confession as well.  And to think I almost passed up this opportunity because it was out of my comfort zone, because I was afraid to leave my kids in someone else's (quite capable!) hands.

Hospitality requires an openness to others, an openness that works in both directions.  And both directions require humility and a willingness to serve and be served.   I have to have the humility to see that I am not so indispensable to my children that I can't leave them every once in awhile for a couple hours.  And I have to have the humility to be willing to invite people into my house and my life, even if it isn't perfectly clean, decorated, and ordered.  Even if my toilet is stained from our iron rich water and sometimes scares small children (true story!) and my house is unfinished.  Even if I get distracted and forget to offer people things, or I struggle in trying to make conversation or keep one going, especially as I try to put the finishing touches on things and get food served.

Hospitality in 2013

I have a few friends who, each year, choose a new virtue to highlight and work on in the year ahead.  I first heard about this last year, but couldn't decide on anything in particular.  Really, I was so overwhelmed the only virtue I could come up with was survival.  OK, so it isn't exactly a virtue, but it is about all I could hope to work on at the beginning of 2012.  Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter, had a wonderful New Year's Resolution post that was perfect for me last year.  But this year, I think I am ready to think about a little more than meals and laundry.

As I thought about various virtues, I quickly realized that hospitality is the virtue I should work on this year.  I am not a natural entertainer.  I do not easily invite people into my home.  Inviting people over used to be a huge, scary thing for me, likely to send me into torrents of anxiety at the merest thought.  Thanks to the gentle urgings of my husband, who likes to have people over, I've managed to move beyond paralyzing fear, but it still isn't something that comes easily for me.  I'd like to reach a point where having people over is an easy and natural thing to do, and I think this is achievable.  To that end, I'm making a promise to myself to develop in this virtue by actually having people over, frequently and regularly.  And, being who I am, I'm planning on doing some reading about the subject too.  Anyone have any suggestions?