The kids and I talked a lot yesterday about rebuilding our thing, our community. The kids miss it. I miss it. One of the things that's prevented us recently is that we lost a bit of our mojo during the cancer (which, fair enough, it'll knock anyone off their stride for a bit), and then once that was over ... well, we just didn't really get back to it. Inertia is a bear.
Then we moved.
Then Z moved.
Then Nutcracker. Then Christmas. Then Winter. Argh.
And now, here we are.
I think part of our problem is that we don't have the processes down, here, yet. In our old house, we could throw together a cookout for 40 guests with as little as two hours' notice. Easy. In this house, we can't hardly cobble together dinner for the five of us, even with a full day's head start. So that's a little tricky. I suspect we simply have to flail our way through a few gatherings in order to force start the new processes. We'll include apology gifts and flowers for those who get stuck being our first few guests, or something like that. But after that, it should come more naturally.
So the plan we came up with was this: find someone to invite to Sunday dinner and invite them.
What criteria you use doesn't matter. It can be someone you already know and like. It can be someone you'd like to get to know better. It can be someone who has done you a kindness that you'd like to reciprocate. It can be someone who just looks like they'd appreciate being looped in and connected. It can be someone you don't know at all, but you still feel compelled to invite them. It can be someone from work, school, church, a club or class, wherever. There are very few actual limitations on who it can be. Really. Your motivations are your own, and I trust you enough to be good with whatever the Spirit uses to move you. Run with it.
So, we'll see how that goes. It's going to require me to have my shizzle together quite a bit more of a Saturday afternoon, but that's probably something I should keep together as a general rule, anyway, right?
I'd LOVE to hear from you. What motivates you to reach out to someone? And then, how do you do it? Also, how do you keep your shizzle together?
Be encouraged!
~ Dy
2 comments:
Ha I surely don't have my shizzle together.:D
I love your idea of inviting someone over for Sundays. I know you and your family will be a blessing to many!
We have actually practiced hospitality more this past year than usual with various celebrations and such. A funny story, one of my son's friends asked to spend the night since he was having a difficult time at home. I was rushing around finding clean sheets for the sofa bed and putting out snacks, and my son thanked me for being southern. I asked him what he meant, and he said offering hospitality even when I really didn't want to, esp on such short notice. Yep, I am better at hospitality when I can plan ahead, but this past year, I was lucky to have an hour notice on many occasions and I was definitely out of my comfort zone.
Wow! That's pretty fantastic to be willing to step out of your comfort zone and care for people when the opportunity arises! I'll bet it's been a better year for you all for having done that. :-)
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