For far too many years I’ve used the excuse of my introverted personality to avoid practicing hospitality. I’ve joked that it’s not my spiritual gift. I’ve convinced myself that it’s entirely too awkward for all involved for us to host and not know what to do with any of the people who show up. I fight the nagging worry of “what if no one shows up?” Which balances nicely with the follow up worry: “What if people actually show up?”
I would read books where hospitality was a grand affair. Dinner parties with fancy linens and elaborate menus. Every detail planned and perfected for the ultimate guest experience. It felt impossible to achieve and the small talk it required felt forced and uncomfortable. My heart desired to gather friends together around the table for an evening of easy laughter and sparkling lights, and what inevitably happened was awkward conversation and potluck dinners where I would lay in bed too early that night and wonder why I said what I said or didn’t say. I would promise myself we wouldn’t put ourselves out there again.
God, however, continues to ask me to reach out and invite others into our lives, to be part of our story. Read the full post, and how I’m learning how to host as an introvert, over at Grace Table today. I’m so in love with this community of hospitality loving writers – it’s a place I plan to visit often, to be fed, to fill up, to learn and to savor. Come join me at the table? I’d love to hang out with you there.
This: “…what inevitably happened was awkward conversation and potluck dinners where I would lay in bed too early that night and wonder why I said what I said or didn’t say.” I have done that SO many times!
Thanks for sharing your heart. I saw you at Allume but kept talking myself out of introducing myself out of nervousness!
Headed to read the rest of this post now!
Happy Monday!