September 27, 2010
Guest Post: Hospitality - Are you a Mary or a Martha?
12:01 AM | 
Posted by
Stephanie
Luke 10:41-42 – But the Lord said to her, My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about… (NLT)
I don’t have a green thumb. I wish I did, but I don’t. Recently, I read an article that said plants can improve the air in the home, so in a surge of optimism I bought two. As I brought them into the house my husband asked, “What are those for?” to which I replied “I felt like killing something.”
Now, I’d like to be able to tell you that they are still improving the quality of air in my home, but that would be a lie. They’ve returned to the earth “from whence they came,” sad to say.
My father, on the other hand, can plant a toothpick and grow a tree. In his wisdom he suggested I buy a pineapple plant. He had several that were producing fruit and felt even I couldn’t kill those. I bought two.
When I think of Mary and Martha I’m afraid I identify with Martha way too often. I believe that Martha loved Jesus just as much as Mary and in her heart she was doing her work for Jesus.
I can just picture myself in her place: table set, plenty of iced tea or water, a two-liter Pepsi in the ‘fridge…just in case. I must have the perfect dessert, and they need to have a gift so I should make something to send home with them. The list goes on, but frankly I’m making myself tired just writing about it. All of that work when all her guest really wanted was her company. Martha was entertaining while Mary showed hospitality simply by welcoming their guests into their home and spending time with them.
Isn’t it wonderful that we have assigned the pineapple as the symbol for hospitality? A plant that doesn’t require great fuss. A lot of times we confuse hospitality with entertaining.
To entertain is to impress someone while hospitality is from the heart. Often we as women think we have to have the right house, right food, right clothes, everything just perfect and we pass up an opportunity to share the joy of Jesus with someone.
Just like the pineapple plant, hospitality doesn’t require much fuss and work, only availability.
Father, help me remember that “doing” isn’t as important as “being.” Help me to practice hospitality and remember that it’s my heart that people want to see.
Website: www.sweetjeanette.blogspot.com
Find me on Twitter: @aunt_nette
My first love is my Lord. My true love this side of heaven would be my husband of 30 years. I have a passion for baking and crafts - which is a great help because one of my love languages is gifts! I enjoy "girl time" with old and new friends and I would love to meet you! I'd just be tickled pink if you visited me in my home on the internet...ok my blog... where you can drop by anytime for some good old "girl time". You're always welcome at Sweet Jeanette !
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Our Featured Friend
Praying For Penny
Seeds Banners
Facebook - Twitter - RSS - Email Us
Please Visit Our Wonderful Sponsors:
Seeds Site Administrators
Seeds of Faith Founded By:
Site design by Tracey
9 comments:
Thank you for the reminder!! I need to be a Mary and often am a Martha. I also love to have people to visit, but worry about everything else. I will remember this next time!
Great post! I know I am guilty of trying to make everything perfect when we have guests that I stress and then stress everyone else out in the process. Need to keep focus on ministering to others not perfection. :)
great post! so ncie to meet you :) i haven't thought about martha in a few months - and i never compared mary to martha in this way. thanks for a thought-provoking post!
Thanks for the excellent post. I try to be a Mary, but Martha's voice keeps getting inside my head! :o) BTW...I have no green thumb either. My master gardener neighbor keeps giving me easy plants for my yard. I keep killing them. But at least I'm trying, right? ;o)
This is a great post. As much as I hate to admit it, I am more of a Martha. I like the way you compared "entertaining" with "hospitality". My wish is always that I could have something catered and a right hand person to do the behind the scenes so that I could be hospitable. Thanks for the reminder.
What a great thought! I'm always trying to have everything "just so" {the house, the meal, the kids}. I definitely need to work on hospitality.
Whew! This makes me feel so much better about a meeting I had at my house this past Sunday night. It was a meeting for my retreat team. It was scheduled for 6:30 to 8 (i.e., dinner time). I put out pita chips and hummus, and strawberries and several options for drinks. I had paper and pens and other items for our meeting. I realized later that I probably should have served pizza or something with sustenance for dinner!
We had a great meeting and this post helps me to not feel guilty about the dinner!
Thanks Jeanette!
Wonderful post and reminder Jeanette! I love the humor you brought with your post - found myself laughing out loud at parts. :-)
Enjoyed reading ur post & it sure made me realize what a Martha i am when having guest over. What we need to remember is the people we invite is coming to see "us" because we invited them & they probably wouldn't care what our home looks like. I mean we don't want it to look like a pig sty but we don't need to be perfect! Thanks so much for opening my eyes & i'll try to remember this next time i invite someonover & relax & enjoy their company like Mary did Jesus! Love your web site & love you, Evelyn
Post a Comment