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Topic: Hospitality (02/07/05)
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TITLE: Long-stemmed Roses | Previous Challenge Entry
By Janis Wiebe
02/14/05 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
homes and she always went eagerly, usually with a bouquet of flowers or a salad to accompany the meal.
When Molly was single, the pressure to entertain was almost nonexistent, but once the wedding was over, the gloves come off and she felt that she had better hunker down to collecting recipes, napkin rings and vases of all shapes, colors and sizes. In reality, the pressure originated from the long-stemmed roses she didn’t have.
Molly knew that the bible encourages us to be hospitable, but she just didn’t feel confident enough. She didn’t learn how to cook until she started dating her husband. She sat across the table from him in her studio apartment and stared dumbfounded as he ate the first meal
she had made for him. He even seemed to enjoy it. Molly joked in later years that “someone had to learn how to cook, or they would have starved”.
As time went on Molly muddled through the “hospitality thing”. Her friends came and went without showing any knowledge of her insecurity. One ordinary Sunday morning as she sat in
her regular seat at church, the pastor asked “when you invite people to your home, is your motive to relax and enjoy your company, or is it to entertain your guests?”Visions of Gypsy Rose Lee singing “Let me entertain you” while flouncing her feather boa popped into her head.
Suddenly, Molly immediately paid attention to what was being said JUST FOR HER. She marveled at God’s revelation that this wasn’t an insignificant little quirk that she had, but a great obstacle that stood in the way of her relationships with her brothers and sisters in Christ. By not demonstrating hospitality to her friends, Molly was denying herself and others the great blessings that come from breaking bread with one another around the table of Christian love. Just as so many other times throughout her walk with God, Molly knew freedom.
Recently Molly quietly mentioned to her husband and children, “please don’t buy me roses anymore”. “Why?” her husband asked. “Just get me carnations, they’re beautiful and they
last longer. They’re so much more hospitable”.
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